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boypussydilf · 2 years

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Immediately throws akechi and sumi at your for the relationship game.give me them

oh my god its them! im completely normal about them!

describe their canon relationship/dynamic

there’s um. not. a whole lot. they sure are people who know each other <3 i would love to see a compilation of Top 10 Times Akechi And Sumire Briefly Greeted Each Other In Passing And Did Not Have A Conversation. that would be so boring. that’s also like, most of their relationship, just the part that happens offscreen. there’s not necessarily A Ton to them in third sem either but They Are There! there is the part where atlus tries to say akechi just straight up Doesn’t Care about her and it’s. that’s misleading phrasing at best. there isn’t serious evidence that akechi has any kind of special affection for sumi, and it’s exacerbated by akira being there for comparison and akechi, like, has a lot of feelings about akira and akira is on the very small list of people akechi is remotely comfortable displaying feelings about even if just the “i want to hitting you over the head with a hammer” and “*experiencing jealousy + admiration + gay* this also is wanting to hitting you over the head with a hammer” feelings but like,. anyway. Akechi cares about sumi even if in canon it’s just the amount of caring you do about someone you’ve Kind Of Spent A Little Time With But Not Much.

Anyway in all that rambling my brain put together what their actual canon relationship is. God, it’s beautiful and incredible isn’t it. Sumi is sort of acquainted with this polite guy who goes on TV sometimes and Akechi is kind of acquainted with this polite girl whose dad works at the TV station and then one day sumi suddenly finds out that akechi is winning international Most Unhinged Ways To Scream While Killing Things awards and akechi suddenly finds out that sumi has been impersonating her dead sister for most of a year because she couldn’t bear being herself. And then they go beat things up together

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy?

*bdg and his sister voice* SIBLINGS SIBLINGS SIBLINGS SIBLINGS!

To me they are that one shadow & cream(?) comic. To me they are the “if anyone makes fun of you for saying golly you will kill them” “yes boss!”. And so much more… oh god ive done a lot of talking, im getting tired, but its ok. i can make it.

They’re great because like. Sumi does her best to be Relentlessly Cheerful and subsequently is kind of immune to Akechi Being Mean. I think she would be good for him. She’s like “wow this guy is insane!” but also kinda admires & looks up to him the way she does with all the thieves and like… he’s stuck with her. He has no real reason or basis to project Ulterior Motives onto her, she doesn’t feel the urge to like, try to Fix Him or something, they can just. Exist. With her following him around and being sweet and nice and Sumire and he has to deal with it now. It helps, in a way, that while that one post was kind of off the mark calling akira “just some guy” it was spot on calling akechi and sumi The Two Most Mentally Ill People In The World. Sumi is nice & tries to be positive but she’s also. You Know. “They can hang out and be depressed together” is not remotely the correct way to phrase it, but, like… It’s that they’re not necessarily uniquely suited as people to understand each other, kind of the whole point of akechi is all the thieves can relate to him and his situation in a way, and obviously no one is exactly in a position like sumire but there r other thieves who could understand well where she’s coming from…. but like… They’re in maybe the best jumping off point to GET to, We Can Understand Each Other. Like actively making that a part of… not exactly their conversations but…. you know. Being aware of that and being intentional about it.

Ummm what else. I guess if I think of anything else before I post this I can add it. Oh yeah and I also think abt that one fic where marukis palace has a section that’s clearly trying to set akira & sumi up but akechi does it with her instead and they both use their Powers Of Deliberate Politeness and its just, like. Sweet and special to me.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you?

*leaning really close into the microphone* i think goro akechi should have friends.

I just think everything about them is neat. The funny silly potential. The serious dramatic potential. The both of them having friends,

akechi and sumi hanging out really IS something that can be so funny silly <3 like for one thing their official canon dynamic of kind of knowing someone who seems normal and u spend any real time with them and suddenly it’s Oh! What the fuck! its awesome. and also sumire the sweetie darling that she is intentionally being nice to him and being his friend and spending time with him and akechi begrudgingly going along with it sometimes because he wants to protect it wants to see it grow up healthy but just will not admit it because goro akechi is, and i do not say this lightly, i believe no one should say this lightly, i say it only after majoring for the past year in akechi studies, a tsundere. i also think about the specific Sibling Angle a lot. i adore the concept of cringefail brother akechi so much. akechi sits up straight at 3am while reading reddit threads about himself instead of sleeping and realizes with horror that he has become A Brother and then goes into a panic for the rest of the week. how is he supposed to BE a brother? what do brothers DO? is there an inconspicuous way to take notes while akira and futaba are interacting? It does not occur to him that if he has already become a brother he must be doing OK at it.

That may or may not have gotten off track depending on how you look at it. The point is i like them because their whole relationship can be SO fucking funny.

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships?

GOD… GOD… Sumi is technically not the ONLY person remotely in his age range akechi knows that he hasn’t also tried to kill, because, like, he goes to school, but. “Akechi makes friends with his classmates” yeah that’s not gonna happen. no way. there’s 500 different reasons that would never happen. So like. Sumi. This is the most important part. the Lack Of Baggage. they did not have very many interactions, in their lives, before third sem at all, and none of those interactions involve trying to kill each other. there’s sort of the sumi in january trying to kill him a little bit thing, but, that’s not much. that can be pushed aside. akechi has someone who has not interacted with Detective Prince akechi much, and also, again, has not been the recipient of attempted murder, so she can just, like, know him, if he’ll let her.

now SUMI on the other hand has had her traumatic backstory put on blast in front of all of the phantom thieves and especially akira and akechi but i dont remember if she, has anything to say about that at all in canon, and she probably would have Thoughts about that but my brain has not quite made a Full Sumire Dissertation as of yet so i dont have the specific thoughts on hand and besides thats a little off topic.

I think a lot about the Akechi side of AkeSumi Friendship. I kind of think about the sumi part a little less. off the top of my head i dont have much on her part of it and what she thinks of him besides mostly, like, she looks up to him a little bit the same way she kinda does with all the thieves. Although i think there’s a lot of Mystery to unravel for her. She doesn’t know much about Akechis Life, i think, and doesn’t necessarily want to learn about that, or try to DIY Therapy him, or anything else like that, but, like. She does know that there is some kind of Major History between akechi & the phantom thieves, and she only knows the vaguest, sweeping version of the details. she just wants to know what the fuck Happened and why he’s being like that and why everyone’s like that… i guess thats all i have to say on that!

favorite interaction they have in canon

one: the Ruthless Sort Of Person convo. two:

that’s it that’s all they are. “don’t be fucking USELESS to us” “okie dokie :D! see you tomorrow!!! <3”

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in

We have had so many conversations about them how am I supposed to pick through the World Heritage Posts Of My Brain.

I still think abt the dumb scenario I made up of sumi joining the thieves for shidos palace and they put together a plan to try to gaslight akechi into thinking she was always there and he’s so fucking thrown the akechi boss fight doesn’t even happen because he’s just going What the fuck is this. Also sumi + akechi in strikers. Both “actually in strikers” version and “strikers sequel where they yell at akira for going on a road trip without them and then drag him off” version.

I think with the inevitable influence of akira & futaba sumire can eventually join the “texting akechi stupid memes” club. She tries to rickroll him. I don’t know what he’d do about that honestly. There’s too many potential funny reactions. “Great prank, Yoshizawa-san.” “thank you!!! oh do you want to see the picture i took of a great dress i saw the other day” and she sends an attachment and its another rickroll but she also sends an actual picture of a cool dress too.

Ok. Guess thats all. For now. Took me like an hour. The royal DUO is something that can actually be so personal.

#basilask #p5r spoilers #adding this to my #sumigoro #tag. i hope no one is using that as an actual ship tag and just gets this #fucking behemoth post abt them being siblings lodged in there #sumigoro sibs

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muzzleroars · 2 years

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you said you like song suggestions so while im too nervous to send the full playlists ive made for them. i do want to share at least some of the songs ive associated w ur aus, namely the sc au and bad end one. so um. i have "those who carried on" on both playlists, and on the bad end au one its accompanied by "chattering lack of common sense", both by ghost and pals! obviously "honey i'm home" is on both of them but you've already heard that one...i in part associate it w the sc au as well because it still has the whole thing of. "this is god and he's going to remake the world as he sees fit" and idk it just...vibes with it in my opinion. some of my favourites from the sc au playlist ive made is also just the...three? songs i think fit that akira from the kagerou project: shounen brave, mekakushi code, and additional memory (tw suicide imagery, i think its more obvious in the video than just the lyrics) and i can go into my thought process on any of them if u want!!!

HELL YEA....SONGS......and all my rambling thoughts under a read more!

"those who carried on" is so good for both aus, and i think of it as what bad end akira achieved while for sc akira it's more about his striving. just that opening, it really makes me think of how be akira really did do everything he could and he ultimately sold his soul because after working himself to near death and losing all of his friends for his trouble, the world turned its back on him. so ultimately he couldn't fit in, he didn't have a place despite how hard he had fought for the victims of the world, and he took yaldabaoth's hand instead. sc akira is much more damned from the start, but in his own way he's trying to fix the world - he truly believes yaldabaoth is better for humanity, that ripping free will from the masses is the only way to keep everyone safe and "happy".

"a chattering lack of common sense" is just SO be akira, honestly each line suits him really well sjdhfdf it evokes how he sees through all of humanity and their shadows, how masks no longer exist for anyone...except himself. it also makes me think of how be akira pantomimes his old life, empty repetitions of what he once did devoid of meaning but making him think there's something wrong, that he shouldn't be who he is (it often comes as "who i am now"...but he can't work it out, since he was born this way....right?) truly, be akira is always at least a bit off kilter, never quite feeling right, and this song really works for that constant nagging sensation.

"shounen brave" really hits me for sc akira...i really have this idea that when he first escapes, he sort of thinks, in the back of his mind, that maybe his suffering is over. akira is a very hopeful character to me, and i think even in this swap au he initially has the thought of "maybe others will be better". the researchers hurt him so badly and yal insists humanity is deeply corrupt, but for just a moment, akira thinks he might be ok. and then. no one helps him. he's a lost child either ignored or treated as a strange nuisance since he can't interact well with others. it hits him that the world has no place for him...and he holds that so deep in his heart until he meets goro and i 😭

"mekakushi code" gives me BIG black mask vibes - he very much treats what he does as a job without any real emotional attachment, but he derives a lot of satisfaction from what he's able to achieve with his power. his kills aren't charged events but there's something incredibly fulfilling for him in what he's done with the suffering he endured, how he gained this much raw strength from his torture. he sometimes uses that feeling to convince himself that it was all worth it (even if he doesn't really believe that).

(suicide tw for the discussion of this last song)

"additional memory" goes into akira's internal turmoil and while i don't talk about it explicitly a lot, he struggles mightily with suicidal ideation. it's probably the one thing that truly frightens yaldabaoth, as when akira gets to a particularly bad place...the computer could do little to save him if he chose to do something. i think those feelings really do reach a head around christmas, to the point where he knows he either wants to see yaldabaoth's world realized or he wants to die with his only friend. because really. either yal wins or the thieves destroy him, so akira has all or nothing now. he doesn't see a way out with them, he doesn't believe goro could ever love him and so his life is entirely, irreversibly tied to yaldabaoth's then. it's what roots him to the spot in mementos, thoughts too entrenched in the idea that he can never love properly or be wanted by another human in any capacity. it's his bleakest point in a life that's already been brought so low.

SO......those are all my thoughts!!!! and i would definitely love to hear yours on these choices because i really loved all of them aaaaaa

#me opening my big mouth bc....song......#the last one is definitely heavy so mind the tw!!#akira's depression runs very deep in this one #but that's why i give him a happy ending dsfhdfg #strikers au is really 'give akira the life he deserves in this au' au #cake answers #bad end au #supercomputer au #suicide mention tw

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galaxxiwrites · 3 years

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Heya! =D so you can decide if you wanna do it, but can you do a headcanon reaction of how Akira, Zakuro and Mizuki would react to their darling protecting them like a shield when they noticed that someone was about to try and hurt them and ended up getting badly injured from the hit. Again completely fine if you ignore this request.

Angst? *cracks fingers* Hegg yeah.

warning: these ended up being super long

edit: I forgot to mention, it has mentions of blood and shot!!

prompt: You and your lover were merely enjoying your date together, until you noticed a glint of something hiding in the shadows. It wasn't until you heard a loud bang did your mind register it was a gun. Despite your confusion, your body moves faster than your mind processes anything and you shove your lover away from the bullet's path—unfortunately leaving you to take the bullet in his stead.

Taking a hit (ft. Mizuki, Akira & Zakuro)

Mizuki

Mizuki is stunned. His mouth agape as he stands there, unsure of what to do first.

His mind wrestles with thoughts of getting the bastard who shot you or helping you, but when he sees the pool of blood slowly growing bigger, his body moves by itself.

"Hey...hey...! (Y/n)!"

Mizuki screams and shakes you, but your lack of response makes his heart drop.

He's racing to grab his phone, and his hands were too shaky to properly work the touchpad, but despite the odds he was able to properly pick out Kokuyo from his list of contacts and calls the one man he looks up to.

"Mizuki, what is it? We're in the middle of practice—"

Kokuyo sounded annoyed, but immediately fell silently when he heard Mizuki's sobs.

"Kokuyo...what do I do—?"

Mizuki can't talk properly, but does his best to explain the situation to him.

Kokuyo tells Mizuki to wait there with you while he calls an ambulance. Not like Mizuki had much of a choice anyway, as he didn't want to leave you alone.

The ambulance arrives after what feels like forever, and Mizuki's sobs that finally dried a while ago start up again as he sees you being whisked away into the vehicle on a stretcher.

For the remainder of what happened, it was all a blur to him. All Mizuki remembers was crying in front of the ER while they worked on stabilizing your condition.

After those gruesome hours of worrying, the doctors finally leave the ER. They tell Mizuki they did what they could—and that your chance of survival was 50/50 at best.

Mizuki was about to beat the doctor for not doing a better job of saving you, but Kokuyo stopped him before he could grab the doctor by the collar.

Mizuki asked for a few days off Starless, and even asked Sotetsu to dig up some information on your the attacker.

"Don't worry, (y/n). I'll make sure whoever did this to you is gonna pay."

He says, though not really waiting for a reply. After all, how could a person in deep slumber ever answer back?

Akira

Akira immediately calls the ambulance, and tells them everything despite his shaky voice almost failing him multiple times throughout the duration of the call.

Akira also tells Kokuyo about what happened, and excuses himself time off from Starless until he was assured that you were no longer in critical condition.

He stayed up all night outside of the ER, unable to even sit down despite his feet almost giving out from the fatigue of him pacing back and forth.

"We tried to close the shop as fast as we could. How is (y/n)?"

Takami asks, shocking the daylights out of Akira who was too focused on his thoughts of you to even realize that they arrived.

Akira's voice failed him. All he could was stare blankly back at the doors leading to the ER room, where you were.

Some time after, some doctors and nurses finally left the ER room. The one handling your operation told Team W that your condition has stabilized, and that you should be fine soon.

Finally, Akira was able to calm down. He just dropped to the floor, his whole body trembled as a murmurs of relief could be heard.

Taiga on the other hand, decided to dig up some information. After all, the world now revolved around the internet—it wouldn't be surprising if some wackjob ended up posting whatever schemed they had on their social media, especially if it was a throw away account.

Luckily, this sort of thing was childs play for the tech expert, and after a few hours of searching, was finally able to trace the fake account to its real owner—one of Akira's delusional fans.

The singer is mortified to see the latest post on the person's social media.

"Soon, he'll be mine."

Again, Akira's nerves tensed. Kokuyo smacks Taiga for showing them such information when Akira hasn't rested yet, but the singer thanks his team member. He even commits the person's face to memory, despite his mind feeling light from all the stress and lack of sleep.

In the early morning after her surgery, a nurse was scheduled to come in to monitor on (y/n)'s condition.

Akira stands to greet the nurse, but stops himself when he recognizes the face. This woman was no nurse, it was his fan.

He absentmindedly mumbles the person's social media handle, staring at them wide-eyed in disbelief.

Hearing her name being called out excited the fan.

"Yes! That's me! Don't worry Akira...once I get rid of this pest, we can finally be together. Like how it's supposed to be!"

Akira couldn't fathom the words that came out of this deranged fan's mouth. Without realizing it himself, Akira had his hand clenched into a fist, ready to punch this lunatic and hopefully fix whatever brain wires needed repair.

"Oi, give it a break. Jeez, a man can't even enjoy a smoke break."

Kokuyo came just in time to stop Akira from beating the woman in front of him to death, meanwhile Sin held the woman down. Akira was about to ask how they knew, but Taiga waved his phone to show hom some kind of gps app.

"It's a tracker. I had a feeling she would be making a move, so I decided to track her phone. Sorry not sorry for invading on your privacy, miss stalker fan." The tech master announces proudly.

"Takami's gonna give her over to the police. Meanwhile...you should sleep. Those eyebags don't suite you, pretty boy."

Kokuyo says, before leaving with the rest of Team W to give the two of you some silence—one that Akira desperately needed as he finally dozes off to sleep on your bedside.

Zakuro

Zakuro has a menacing look on his face—it's a smile, but so distorted with pain that he looks like a maniac.

He shakes your limp body and calls out your name.

"O—ya...? (Y/n)...?"

Zakuro's voice cracks as he realized your body remained unmoving. Zakuro's mind is blank— for the first time he's never felt so lost.

It wasn't until he received a text message did his mind finally managed to start working again.

"Good job on luring her out, ×××"

Read the text message from the unknown number. It doesn't take a genius to connect two and two together, after all, no one should have known his real name. You were targeted by Black Card—but why? What did you have to do with any of this?

Zakuro, instead of directly calling the ambulance, texts Qu to do it in his place, as he knew their number two would ask later rather than sooner.

Zakuro hides himself among the crowd, but he feels his heart drop when he sees you out on the stretcher.

He wants to be there with you, at least holding your hand while they take you to the ER. But now was not the time, not when someone from Black Card might still be monitoring his movements.

He returns to Starless, and it was only until Kei asked Zakuro about the source of the bloodstain on his clothes does he realize his garments were soiled—with your blood.

Quite ironic, considering how this is the perfect literature imagery of a person's blood on one's hands. So ironic that Zakuro breaks down into a chuckle.

Team C's singer asks Kei for some time off on Starless. Naturally, Kei can't just give anyone time off, they were employees in an industry that requires one's constant presence to remain relevant.

Kei tells Zakuro that of the latter would explain, then he might consider it.

"(Y/n)...She was shot."

Was all Zakuro utters before taking his leave from the building. All the others who were in close proximity were shocked, not just at what he said but how he said the news. Zakuro sounded absolutely broken, his voice lost all hints of mischief he once had.

Zakuro wished he was able to visit you and give himself some peace of mind that you were going to be alright, but he can't.

He refused to rest, not until he learns everything. About your connection to Black Card, or why you were specifically targeted. He knows it won't be easy, but he's willing to risk it all for you.

"If you bastards think I'd choose my memories over (y/n), then you're dead wrong. All of you are going to regret this."

#thank you for the request!#bsts #blackstar theater starless #bsts headcanons #bsts akira #bsts mizuki #bsts zakuro

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p5youllneverseeitcoming · 3 years

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Mwahahaha >:D Thanks to the S/O’s traumatic fear of hospitals post I now have an idea! As a sequel to it, can I get Headcanons where Akira and Akechi get critically injured (from Metaverse or an accident I dunno) & they have their own death experiences while in the hospital/ER (they survive thanks to the promises they made with their S/O but still) and their worried S/O visits?

*Casually posts this at 3am* I return from the Super Mega Hell I call transcribing interviews to bring you this

Also… Uh very minor Royal spoilers I guess? In Royal there’s a chance that Mementos is completely dark when you go to one floor but that’s it

As for Akechi’s part… Spoilers for the seventh palace (for vanilla P5) so just incase anyone here is not up to this part I put his part under the cut!

Akira Kurusu & Goro Akechi getting injured and having a near death experience with a S/O who is scared of hospitals for that exact reason

Akira Kurusu:

> Everything was going rather smoothly

> You were in Mementos, taking care of a few requests

> But eventually, you got to a floor that was particularly confusing… And completely pitch black

> “Um Joker? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this broken wall like three times already.” Skull said as he pressed his face against the window

> “Did I make a wrong turn? No but… I went right and…” Joker muttered to himself as he mentally tried to recall the path he took

> “Should we go back to where we were?” You asked as you squinted trying to see anything in the darkness

> “I’m not exactly opposed to that idea but um, where exactly would that be?” Asked Fox

> “Navi, can you see anything?” Noir asked as she turned to the hacker

> The girl opened her mouth to answer only to be cut off by something no one wanted to hear

> Rattling chains

> “That doesn’t sound good…” Crow said as he leaned forward to grip the driver seat

> “Joker we have to-” Mona began to say

> He didn’t get a chance to finish however as moments later, the Mona car was knocked over causing the Thieves to scream in fear and tumble out

> “Do we even stand a chance?” You asked as you gripped your weapon and looked at the Shadow before you

> The Reaper was… Well, terrifying

> “We don’t really have much of a choice.” Crow replied as he raised his saber

> “Get ready everyone!” Joker called as he rushed towards the Shadow

> You were hitting it with everything you had

> Magic, melee attacks, guns… Even Almighty attacks

> But it seemed like that was barely effecting him

> And what’s worse, you were running out of items

> “Joker…” You say as you turn to him

> Everyone is exhausted, all of you are breathing heavily, trying your best just to stay conscious

> You watch Joker, the leader, your boyfriend, lets out a shaky breath as he turns to Mona

> “Mona… Turn into the car and… Please… Get them out of here.”

> “’Them’? Wait, Joker you don’t-”

> “Please.”

> “No, Joker, you can’t be ser-”

> “I leave you in charge of driving, [Code name].” He says before turning back to the Shadow and aiming his gun at it

> “Wait!-”

> “See you at the entrance.” He says with a smile as he fires a couple of times before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction of the Thieves

> “We- I- We have to-” You stutter out as you turn to try and run after him but then you feel someone’s hand on your shoulder

> “Joker gave you a task to do didn’t he?” Crow says as he gives your shoulder a gentle squeeze

> “But…” You say, tears making your vision blurry

> “Come now, this is Joker we’re talking about, I’m sure he meant what he said.”

> You sniffle quietly before nodding

> “You’re r-right.. Let’s go, everyone.”

~~~

> It’s silent on the way back

> You glance over at Crow who is sitting in the passenger seat and notice that his expression is a lot more… Different than usual

> You’re used to seeing his signature polite yet charming smile but this time he looks…

> Scared.

> Does that mean?…

> No, don’t think like that. This is Joker we’re talking about. I mean… This man runs across rooftops without the slightest care there’s no way he could be defeated…

> Right?

> After a bit more driving you eventually manage to reach the first floor

> But instead of going up the last platform you stop, just right before it

> “Hm? [Code name]?” Queen says as she leans forward a bit

> “I- I want to wait for him.” You say, trying your best to keep your voice from shaking

> You can almost feel everyone turn to look at you but instead of saying anything else you just grip the wheel a bit tighter

> “… Okay.” Crow says after what feels like ages, “let’s wait five minutes and then go up, alright?”

> You nod and bite your lip

> You can’t cry right now, because Joker is fine, and if Joker is fine, then there’s no need to cry

> You repeat these words over and over like a mantra but…

> … Five minutes pass, and Joker is nowhere to be seen.

> You let out a shaky exhale as you grip the wheel once more

> “We-” you begin as you shut your eyes “we have to go up.”

> No one says anything, but it doesn’t matter

> You know everyone’s thinking the same thing.

> You watch as the other Thieves slowly climb out of the Mona car, supporting any of the members that can’t quite find the strength to stand anymore

> Once you’re all out, Mona quickly turns back into his usual form and quickly walks up to you

> “[Code name], let’s go.” He says tugging at your outfit lightly

> You give a quick nod before finally climbing up the stairs

> You’re exhausted and you wish for nothing more than to collapse on your bed and sleep for about a week

> But what you see as soon as you climb the final step makes you instantly break out into a sprint

> Leaning against the wall is… Joker

> His clothes are torn and there’s blood everywhere but he’s really there

> He’s alive

> “Hey, what took you so lo-” He says before you knock the air out of his lungs as you collide into him

> “Oh my God.” You mutter into his chest as you wrap your arms around him tightly

> You hear him hiss which can’t mean anything good but you feel one of his hands slowly rise until its settled on your back

> “Joker! Y-you made it!” Skull shouts as he hobbles as quickly as he can towards you

> “Oh my, you look horrible!” Noir exclaims as she quickly glances at him

> “We need to get him medical help, now.” Crow says as he glances towards the entrance

> “Yes, um, what’s the quickest way to get to the hospital again…” Queen mutters more to herself than anyone else

> “Come on guys…” Joker begins, his voice a lot quieter than before, “I’m fi…”

> He doesn’t get to finish his sentence, instead he just slumps forward causing you to stumble as you try to keep the two of you upright

> “Oh no, Akira! Akira wake up!” You shout as you shake him slightly

~~~

> When he opens his eyes again, he finds himself in a dark room

> He groans quietly as he turns his head to try and get a better understanding of his surroundings

> Upon closer inspection, he notices that this isn’t just a ‘dark room’, it’s a prison cell

> Or to be more exact, his prison cell

> Wait then that means that I’m…

> “How did I end up here?” He mutters as he slowly sits up and stares at the all too familiar bars

> “Hm? Oh my,”

> “So you finally woke up huh, Inmate?!”

> Akira watches as the twin wardens turn and face him at the same time

> “How did I get here?” He asked

> Instead of an answer, Akira just hears a deep chuckle

> “This place exists between mind and matter… I believe this should be enough to answer your question.”

> It really isn’t but okay

> “Don’t look at our Master with such a dumb expression Inmate!” Caroline says as she slams the bars with her baton

> “Caroline, I don’t believe this was his intention.” Justine says with her usual calm voice “I suppose he is simply confused.”

> “… Am I dead?” Akira asks turning his head towards Justine

> “Not exactly.” She answers as she glances at her clipboard

> “It seems you’re too stubborn to die, maybe you do have potential after all.” Caroline adds as a small smile appears on her lips

> “Your friends also seem very determined to keep you alive, they’re the reason why you woke up.” Justine says

> “My friends?” Akira asks

> “They practically dragged you to the nearest hospital! You should thank them for all their efforts!” Caroline says with an angry expression

> “Yes, it seems the bond you share is truly something special.” Justine says with a polite smile

> “Yeah, so stop wasting time and wake up already!” Caroline says before slamming the bars with the baton once more

~~~

> Once again, Akira finds himself opening his eyes

> Only this time, he’s staring at a white ceiling as opposed to a dark prison cell

> Also this time instead of the sound of water dripping, he hears beeps

> Turning his head to confirm his suspicions, he finds a monitor showing his heartrate

> Huh, so he really is in a hospital

> “Akira?”

> “[Name]?”

> He tries to turn his head back but before he can you’re already leaning over him

> “I was so worried… You- You collapsed so I- I tried to wake you up but you…” You practically sob these words out

> “Hey, hey [Name] it’s okay, take a deep breath and try to calm down okay?” Akira says as he raises a hand up to your cheek

> You hate hospitals, he knows that

> Yet here you are, right by his side

> He must’ve made you really worried if you managed to conquer one of your greatest fears

> He makes a mental note of how he will have to make this up to you once he gets out

> “You stopped breathing Akira.” You cry out as tears make their way down your cheeks

> Oh God, how does he even respond to something like that?

> “… I did?”

> Wow, congratulations dumbass.

> “Yes! I- We- Doctor Takemi… Oh God…”

> “[Name], [Name], hey, it’s okay, breathe with me okay? Come on, deep breath in…” Akira says before taking a deep breath

> You let out a few more sobs before trying your best to copy him

> Once you do, he smiles softly and deeply breathes out, hoping you will do the same

> The two of you continue this for a while, and eventually you manage to calm down

> “Good, it’s okay now [Name], I’m okay.”

> “Please don’t… Don’t ever do that again.”

> He nods as he strokes your cheek again

> “I promise.”

Goro Akechi:

> “Long time no see” Crow says to the group before his eyes land on you

> You couldn’t help but look away

> This wasn’t how it was meant to be

> You knew what he was planning, but you always thought hoped that you would be able to change his mind

> You quietly listen as Crow talks to the group and clench your fist when he tells you about Shido being his father

> Panther gives you a quick worried glance but you just raise your head and look directly at Crow

> “Why? Why must you be against us? We- We could’ve-”

> “Let’s finish this.” Joker says cutting you off

~~~

> It doesn’t take long for you to defeat the enemies

> “Goro…” You mutter quietly as you raise your hand slightly

> But then, something you never expected happens

> You watch as that mysterious persona, who you now know as Loki, appears once more and transforms Crow’s pristine white outfit into a dark blue and black costume, the small red cape turning into a ripped up black fabric and his pure white gloves turning black with talon like fingertips

> “You’re going down… I’ll destroy you…. Go down with me!” Crow shouts as more of the red mist surrounds him

> “That bastard, he made himself go psychotic!” Skull says reaching for his weapon

> “No…” You say as you stare in disbelief

> “[Codename] I know this is hard for you but you need to focus right now. You can’t let him win.” Queen says as she places a hand on your shoulder

> You take a shaky breath and nod

> She’s right. You can’t lose here, you need to snap some sense back into him afterall

~~~

> “Change Shido’s heart… In my stead… End his crimes… Please!…”

> “Leave it to me.” Joker answers staring at the partition

> “We can’t…” You begin as you look from one Thief to another

> “Isn’t there some way to get this open?!” Panther says as she glances at Mona

> That’s when you hear the gunshots

> You can’t help but cry out in shock, one hand flying up to cover your mouth

> You realise the others are talking but you just stare at the partiton, tears flowing down your cheeks

> You don’t move, at least not until Fox physically has to drag you away from the partition

> You don’t really know how long the group has been walking to reach the exit, but then again, you don’t really care about that

> You’re still crying when you return to the real world, only this time there’s no mask to hide your tears

> Your face feels hot, and your head hurts which must mean you look like an absolute wreck right now

> Once again, you notice the Thieves are talking but you don’t listen

> After a couple of minutes, you notice that some of the members are slowly shuffling away and heading off in different directions

> Soon enough, it’s just you and Akira left

> “[F/n].” Akira says, as he turns to look at you “I’ll walk you home, okay?”

> You shake your head at that, mentally cursing at the shooting pain you feel moment after

> “… Here…” You practically choke out

> “Huh? I’m sorry I-”

> “I’m staying… Here…” You repeat, hand vaguely gesturing at the Diet Building

> Akira looks at you for a solid minute before nodding a few times

> “Okay… But [F/n]-”

> “I’ll go home… Later.” You say cutting him off

> “Right.” He replies as he turn to walk towards the station “I’m sorry.”

> You listen to his footsteps for a little while, but then… There is silence.

> You’re pretty sure you’re out of tears by now, so you decide to wipe your face with both hands

> You need to calm down, crying won’t solve this

> You take a few minutes to just breathe and eventually, you feel yourself shaking a lot less

> Why did this have to happen?

> No, asking this is pointless now

> You look at the Diet Building once more and bite your lip

> Before you can fully comprehend what you’re doing, you find yourself marching towards it

> You really wish your weapon wasn’t just a plastic imitation in the real world

> Then again, what could you possibly do?

> Maybe you could-

> “Hm?” You hum to yourself as you take a closer look at the wall

> Due to it being early evening, there isn’t much natural light left but you’re pretty sure there’s something smeared on the wall

> Not only that, it seems almost like… There’s some sort of trail?

>… Wait, is that?

> You cautiously touch it with your finger before bringing it back for closer examination

> T-This is…!

> Before you can fully process why there’s blood on the wall you hear the nearby bushes rustle

> You move one hand close to your bag ready to pull out your plastic weapon as you take a few steps closer

> “Who’s there?” You ask

> “Don’t be… Stu-” The voice begins before coughing violently

> “G-Go…”

> “Mm…”

> You quickly drop your bag and use your hands to carefully move away the leaves

> Sure enough, there’s the Detective Prince, Goro Akechi, your boyfriend, lying in a small pool of his own blood

> “How- No, wait- Erm- Hospital.” You sayas you quickly move one hand towards your pocket to retrieve your phone

> “Heh…” Akechi coughs out as a small smile appears on his lips

~~~

> You were pacing the hospital hall back and forth for hours

> Despite your constant pleading, the doctors told you that you can’t be in the room

> Your hands are constantly fidgeting and the amount of times you bit your lip caused you to draw a bit of blood

> You hate this place, you would much rather be anywhere but here…

> But you can’t leave him. You won’t leave him.

> “[L/n] - san?”

> You look up at the sound of your name

> “Yes?” You ask as your eyes land on the doctor

> “You can go see him now, but…”

> “But what?” You ask as your eyes widen

> “He’s in a coma.”

> You nod and give a quick thanks before walking into the room

> Your hands are shaking again

> Calm down [F/n], just breathe

> You take a deep breathand slowly step towards his bed

> Goro is wrapped in so many bandages but he’s alive

> “Goro…” You whisper as you gently stroke one of his hands “you absolute fool…”

> You stay with him until visiting hours are over

> But you return the next day

> And the day after

> It’s not until the 3rd day that he actually wakes up

> The first thing he does when he wakes up is raise one hand slightly and flex his fingers

> “Hm.” He hums looking at his hand

> “Oh my God… Goro, how are you-”

> “Terrible.” He says with an annoyed expression

> “I thought you… You know…” You say as you turn to fully look at him

> “I almost did.” He answers, a hint of sadness in his voice

> There’s a moment of silence before he speaks up again

> “It was… A strange experience.”

> “Huh? How so?”

> He coughs before answering

> “I’m not sure how to explain it,” he says before clearing his throat “I saw… A blue room?”

> You frown at him, clearly confused

> “Don’t look at me like that… I told you I don’t know how to describe it.” He says, his eyes scanning your face

> “Ah, um, sorry.”

> “You know, I can’t say for sure but… I thought I heard your voice in there.”

> “Hm?.. Wh- What did it say?”

> “You said I’m too stubborn to die, especially in that asshole’s Palace, plus, I heard you crying.”

> You let out a small laugh at that

> “Well, it’s not wrong.”

> “There’s no need to cry over me. I told you, I’m not wanted, I’m a backstabber, a traitor.”

> You click your tounge at that as you reach for both of his hands and squeeze them lightly

> “That’s wrong. You may have betrayed the Phantom Thieves but you are wanted. I want to be with you.”

> “[F/n]…”

> “I… I can’t say I forgive you for what you did, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to abandon you!”

> Goro doesn’t answer

> Instead, he just squeezes back

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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

Text

Tokyo Love Story (Part 6) The Fight

This scene does not appear in the books or the game. This is a scene that relates to the MC and her journey in my “Main Story Quests Rewritten” series but takes themes and information from what happened to Kogure and Akira Sakurai. One thing that is not communicated well in the game, is that Kogure and Akira were put in positions to die. The things that happened to them didn’t “Just Happen”. It was arranged.

I can’t ask you to enjoy what I’ve written, but I hope you read it and feel emotions.

In the park where you had taken shelter from Hydra, you were now trapped by them. You and Chance were unable to escape and Chisei Gen now stood over Chance while you hid behind a Buddha statue, still out of sight. You’re not sure what to do. While you were strong and fast and clever. Chisei Gen was stronger and faster than you. There wasn’t much cover, it wouldn’t be a lot of time before he found you. All you had was your deadpool claw dagger, but the sword Onimaru could even cut through that.

Chisei Gen loomed over the trembling whimpering Chance. “I’m only going to ask you once. Where is Ruri Kazama?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know!” He held out his hands, pleading and in a flash of light, one of his fingers disappeared.

Chance’s agonized screams drove you to press your fingers into the ground. You didn’t care if you toppled a few buildings. You would use your Soul Skill if you had to make this stop! You just needed Chance to hang on for a few seconds. Just a few seconds!

“I’m telling the truth!” Chance clutched his wrist and fell to his side. Wide-eyed with terror, sweating with pain, he gasped. “After Ryoma Sakurai died, information stopped coming from up top. I didn’t even know Kazama was going to show up in town until he was there! I swear!”

You close your eyes tighter, the tendrils of spiritual energy pierce the ground, racing to gather and spread. Then your head is pulled up on your neck! You're pulled up by your hair. You have to stand on tip toe to relieve the pressure on your scalp. A smooth slimy voice chuckles. “Oh ho ho… Hey boss! I found a little rabbit!”

Your eyes go wide. If he saw your face… Thinking quickly, you pull the golden comb out of your hair to release your bangs. They descend like a waterfall over your eyes.

“No! Let her go! Please!” Through your dark locks, Chance furiously tries to reach for the dagger in his leg.

“If you pull that out, you’ll bleed to death.” The mocking voice from behind you reminded you so much of the pantysniffer. “Oo… she’s young too… Boss, when you’re done with this guy can I have her?”

Chance’s face twists with anger but you meet his eyes and give a little shake of your head.

“I don’t care, Yasha.” Chisei turned back to Chance. “You’re Inuyama Ichirou, a Rank A hybrid, Code: Orange. You’ll lose control at any time, but you’ve evaded our tracking and have gone unmonitored…”

“I haven’t killed anyone!” Chance gasps from the ground. “I just worked as a prostitute and cater to clientele who like it rough. It’s what I do. It’s how I satisfy it. It’s all consensual.” True to his nature, Chance let out a laugh even though he could see his reflection in that blade that had killed so many of his fellow hybrids.

Yasha turns to you and you stay still to try maintain your focus on your soul skill, but your temper and fury rises. Your eyes glittered like hard black stones behind your hair. Yasha whispers in your ear. “You like it rough too huh?”

You didn’t just need to stay still for your sake, you needed to stay still for Chance’s. If Chance tried to fight Chisei, it would be over before you could do anything. You look at Chance again and shake your head.

“Huh!” Yasha’s eyes widened slightly. “A brave one.”

“Despite that…” Chisei continues slowly, sending an annoyed glance at Yasha. “I can’t just let you go. You need to be monitored.”

“Please… don’t kill me. Don’t send me to prison. I’ll live quietly, like I always have. I’ve always lived quietly. And… “ A tear slipped down his cheek. “I love her. I love her. Please.” He fell at Chisei’s feet, bowing until his forehead touched the ground. “Let us go to Hokkaido.” He turned to you. “Let’s go to Hokkaido. There’s a lot of snow there. We’ll go and we’ll get married in the snow.”

“Okay.” You say, softly, staying still. Your voice is gentle and sweet, in contrast to the brutal scene. “I’ll marry you in Hokkaido.”

Despite his fear and the pain crashing through him, Chance smiled through his tears. “Good. That’s good. Then in that case, I will renounce all ties to the Devil Clan!”

Chisei doesn’t say anything but the tip of his sword lowers. “Sakura. Go tell the others to finish searching the car. Yasha, let the girl go and go with her.”

Yasha let out a sad little whimper and released your hair. You sink down to the ground and the rest of your hair forms a curtain around your face. The flowers tilt askew, still hanging on by just their pins. Yasha stuffs his hands in his pockets and slouches sullenly as he ambles down the path out of sight.

“I will need your information so I can track you.” Chisei kneels next to Chance and Chance stares in wonder as Chisei pulls a handkerchief from his trenchcoat to wrap his hand where he’s now missing a finger.

Tears were already flowing down Chance’s face and now they became a torrent. “I want my nieces and nephews back! They took the children! I can’t go without them too!”

Chisei calmly ties the wound with a stiff knot.. “From where?”

“From the Residential District in Tokyo. The one that burned. My brothers fought so the kids wouldn’t be taken. They’re all orphans now… so they were taken to the prisons.”

Chisei let out a breath and then he nodded. “Alright. Give me a list of their names. Once you get to Hokkaido, I’ll have them released to you. But you have to stay monitored. That’s all I ask.” Chisei stands up and starts wiping his sword with a cloth.

Chance is shaking but he’s slowly returning to his confidence. He turned to you and smiled. Your chest swells with pride. Not only could Chance save you, but also what remained of his family.

Chance reached into his jacket and pulled out a vial of purple liquid. When you see it and when Chisei sees it, you both gasp. You remembered this vial from the man with the stripe suit who had used it to turn into a monster to fight Caesar. You never thought that Chance would be holding a vial of such deadly poison. No wonder he cried so much in your arms when you told him to live! He was holding a suicide pill right in his hand!

“I was planning on using this if we got in a pinch… but not any more.” Chance said gently.

“Who gave you that!” Chisei hissed. He had gone pale faced, his expression taut. His hand tightens on his blade.

“I don’t know. It was next to my head when I woke up one morning. Whoever left it, left a note saying I was at the end of my life and I should use my time to dance brightly.” His eyes narrowed in hatred as he held it up. “...like a moth in the flames…” He threw it hard into the pea gravel. The vial shattered and the purple liquid seeped into the ground.

Chisei lunged forward, brandishing his sword. You leap to your feet and rush to meet him.

From the shadow of the trees in the park, a muzzle of a gun flashes and the bullet that should have struck Chance in the heart, shatters across the sword Onimaru! The shrapnel sparkled in the air like gold dust and scattered onto the ground.

You skid to a halt and a bullet whizzes just by your head!

Chisei snarled, crouching over a stunned Chance, his body blocking him from the hidden shooter. His eyes are dark with rage. “I knew it!”

You thought Chisei was attacking Chance, but Chisei was protecting him!

You both spot the hidden assassin at the same time. He’s lying low in the bushes in dark camouflage and had to have been watching the entire scene.

The assassin pops the cork off his own vial of the elixir and upends it into his mouth. Immediately, black vines crawl up his arms and neck, followed by shining white scales. His fingers extended beyond the limits of known life and his face shrunk into something monstrous! He leaps directly at Chisei, clearing the distance in a single bound, screaming like a wild thing. Chisei moves aside just enough to allow the claw to scratch his cheek. He only lifts the tip of the sword slightly. The momentum of the newborn dead pool carries it into the tip, slides him all the way down the blade, to the hilt. Chisei doesn’t waste time or words. He raises his foot and kicks the would-be assassin to the ground, stands over him and stabs him once through the neck. With a single twist, you hear the vertebrae snap.

Chisei looks at Chance coldly, waving his sword once and splashing the black blood into the grass. “The Devil Clan is exploiting the desperation of its members when it's giving them that poison. This is the third time this has happened. First was with Akira Sakurai, the lab experiment who helped create this vile liquid. Second was Ryoma Sakurai who drank it to end her life at the Paradisio. The person giving it to them intends for them to die. Each time, they talk about moths… and flames… when I find out who is behind that toxin, I will kill him myself.”

Chance’s hands balled into fists. “But it’s you Hydra who are driving us to desperation. You’re not excused!”

“Chance… let’s go…” You move next to him to try to help him up. You want Chisei to let you go while you have the chance and while he still doesn’t recognize you.

“You should go quickly. That assassin was a Devil Clan member hidden among our ranks. Get tickets to Hokkaido. I’ll provide a safe place for you until this is all over. I’m afraid you won’t be able to trust anyone else.”

“MC…” Chance looks at you, whispering earnestly. “Do I get a star-heart?” He chuckles low in his throat.

You laugh that he’s still thinking of that silly game. “Of course you get a star heart. You can have all the star-hearts.”

He stands up and then suddenly pulls you to him. He holds you close, pressing his body against yours. His breathing accelerates like he’s just run a marathon. He kisses you but it’s not like the kiss from before. This is more like Z’s forceful, penetrating kiss but ten times more aggressive. His fingertips press into your back hard, so hard they might leave bruises. And then his fingers send sharp pangs into your back, like the nails have turned to needles. You want to scream. Your eyes widen and you try to pull away but his grip is so tight now, you feel as though your bones might break. When you look into his eyes, they’re blood shot and then they blaze golden!

Even though Chance didn’t take the molotov cocktail, the dragon blood in his body has been raging all his life, like the fuse on a bomb. He knew the eventuality and had maintained his human nature for a long time. But now, the excitement of freedom, of love, the smell of blood and the adrenaline of violence had pushed him over the edge. He wasn't losing control because of poison, he was losing control by his own nature!

Chisei’s attack was swift, and Chance turned to defend himself. Bone claws had started to grow from his hands just like they did with the assassin, but it was your bronze dagger that flashed up in an arc and sent Chisei staggering back. He stared at you, wide eyed, finally getting a good look at your face through your hair and makeup. “MC?!”

A look of horror passes over his face. He had wanted to get to know you over sake, but instead, you’d seen him torture and nearly kill the man you loved.

You don’t care about Chisei, you rush to Chance who’s clutching his head and staggering, moaning loudly in pain.

“Chance!” You grab his shoulders and look into his face, pleading. “Chance, you have to live, do you hear me? You have to fight it! Fight!”

His eyes flicker from green to gold and he stares at you in fear. “I’m trying…”

He falls to one knee and you follow him down, your hands sliding down his arms. You try to keep eye contact as he swayed like someone drunk..

“Chance, you have to live. You have to live. Please… please remember.” You glance back at Chisei. His sword is low and his eyes are dull and empty as he looks at you.

He doesn’t look like he’s going to attack. You turn back to Chance. “You can’t lose it now. You can’t!”

“I don’t want to…” He sobs. “I’m...so… close.” The dark veins on his hands slowly start to retract and the scales stop their progression. His will to live and to love you is so strong that the dragonization process has halted. He meets your gaze with sparkling green eyes. “I love you.”

You cradle his face in your hands and smile at him, lovingly. “You’re doing it!” You turn back to Chisei, face radiant. “He’s doing it!”

Chisei doesn’t share your enthusiasm. A heavy sadness has fallen over the man and he doesn’t move.

You look at Chance again, willing the scales to fall, willing the veins to retract. You shake his shoulders to rouse him. “I told you. You can live.”

“We’ll get married in Hokkaido.” He says, his eyes lidding half closed. He sounds sleepy, overcome with incredible weariness. “In the snow.”

“Yes.” You nod.

“We’ll raise my nephews and nieces.”

“Yes!” You laughed, tears of joy ran from your eyes.

“I’m… so happy…” He rests his head against your chest and you lightly stroke his hair. You press your lips against his head and close your eyes. For a moment, you hug him like a mother would soothe a child after a terrible nightmare. “Just focus… focus on getting better.”

“...Bye…” His voice is scarcely above a whisper.

Your eyes snap open. He pushes you to the ground and the claws rip across your dress. The delicate lace floats into the steady breeze. You’re on your back, looking up as the darkness of the sky surrounds the bright golden eyes of the person who was once Chance - Inuyama Ichirou. There was no human there, only a vicious animal. His hand closed on your throat.

You should have fought, but your training didn’t kick in. Your mind is completely blank. His face is withering away inches from yours. His skin is turning a sickly grey-green. But you don’t want to use your dagger. Or your soul skill. You want him to stop. To fight it.

In that moment, a strong arm wraps around Chance’s throat like a python and pulls him back. In the next instant, the bright blue sword pierces from his back through his chest, sending blood raining down on your hair, your face, your dress.

Chance flails wildly, gasping. “Wait… wait!”

“Wait!” You cry. His eyes are green again. Chance was still fighting!

Chisei lets him fall however. He turns him over on his back with his foot. Chance can no longer speak, gurgling blood rising up out of his mouth.

“Stop!” You leap and take hold of Chisei’s sword arm in an attempt to disarm him but his elbow slams into your chest so hard your feet come out of your slippers, you sail through the air and land so hard on the ground you’re stunned breathless.

When you sit up, Chance is struggling, gagging against the sword in his neck. Chisei retracts it and he lays still.

You can’t even scream. You run even though it's too late. Your spirit feels out of your body and the ringing in your ears makes the world go completely silent. You don’t remember falling next to Chance, but in the next instant you’re cradling his head, rocking back and forth like the abandoned Izanami. You can feel the warmth of the blood soaking into your fine hanfu.

The scales leave Chance’s pale face and the skin left there is perfect, like a child’s skin. He looks beautiful. But he’s dead. He would never open his eyes again, speak to you again, or kiss you. You’re not getting married in Hokkaido and his relatives would languish in prison. You thought you had it. You thought you could defy the world. But the world is too cold and cruel to you to grant you such happiness.

You remove your tattered silk shawl from your shoulders and press it into the wounds. There’s so much blood that the thin fabric seems to dissolve into it. You turned to Chisei who was still pale, his jaw was clenched as he looked at you with a dull, heavy depression.

The sky above you had grown darker and darker and now it finally opened up, releasing a flooding torrent from above that soaks you in cold rain. You gather yourself up to your feet.

“You murderer…” You point at him with one pale hand, your dark hair plastered on your face. “Killer!”

Lightning flashes and thunder snaps through the air as though the judgement was sustained by God.

Chisei shook his head slowly. “He was gone…” His voice is soft, but despite his attempt to be firm with you, the words were trembling.

“No!”

Chisei freezes. You’ve flung the shawl at him. The blood flies in an arc and you paint Chisei with it, like Jackson Pollock flinging paint on a canvas. It splashes up and down his white shirt and dark pants. “His blood…” You breathe the words in and out in fury. “His blood is red!”

Chisei looks down and palms the stain on his shirt. It was crimson without a trace of black.

“Chance was still fighting! He didn't give up! He didn’t die because it was hopeless. He died because you gave up on him!” You fling the shawl at him again.

Chisei flinches away from the rain of blood. His expression relaxes and the cold emotionless look returns to his eyes. He turns his back to you. “MC. You’re still wanted by the Executive Board. But… if you run… I’ll give you a head start.”

You gasp in disbelief at such bold insensitivity. The remorselessness struck you colder than the rain. However, the shock reminds you that there’s no point in fighting once the person you love is gone. Instead, you remove the gold chains from Chance's neck and give him one last lingering look. He looks like he’s sleeping peacefully there in the rain. You hold the chains tight to yourself and dash away towards the gate. You clear it in a single bound and disappear into the night.

#Dragon Raja

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blue-lothus · 3 years

Text

Breathe

Summary: It was a misunderstanding, really. But because of it, Akira found himself banished to work at the ship of the terrible captain Kamoshida. But before he could start serving his time, he met a merman, and somehow got both of them thrown in the brig, with a death sentence on their heads.

Or, how Akira saved a merman, got a best friend, fell in love a little bit, and went on an adventure.

Or how it’s @grapeflavoredorange ‘s birthday, and I wanted to write something nice for this amazing person, who wrote amazing things for my favorite pairing. I took the idea from one of our conversations, about how in the sims 4 a mermaid’s kiss gives you the ability to breathe underwater for a few hours.

It was an odd day, the atmosphere felt charged and unnatural. It was raining softly, but the grey clouds were dense, looming over his head. A young man with a mop of rebellious black hair sat at the bay, passively watching the horizon, and the sea.

The rain started to fall harder, and that was the only thing that made him move from his spot.

Akira wasn’t really sure how he even ended up there. The last weeks of his life felt like a bad dream, all disconnect feelings and sudden events that made no sense at all.

How did he end up convicted and then condemned to serve his time on a poacher’s ship?

A year on the sea, for a boy who should have just continued his family business and run a farm.

He sighed under the small shelter he found from the rain.

There was movement in the water, something bright and golden flashing quickly and then vanishing. Gone almost as soon as it appeared, a flash of colour in the white haze of the copious rain. It was pouring at this point, and it was impossible to tell what was that, from where he stood.

Akira had always been too curious for his own good.

He approached, silent as a cat, and leaned over the wooden plates of the pier. For his absolute shock, he found someone staring back at him.

It was beautiful. It looked like a he. His hair was golden and unnatural. But his eyes were a gentle brown, almost human, if his teeth weren’t so sharp. If his hair wasn’t so odd. There weren’t any humanoid creatures around these parts of the ocean, except for merfolk.

This one was surely pretty enough to be one of them. And then, the fact that he was still swimming in that weather was surely proof that he wasn’t afraid of drowning. It was just… a weird place to see one of them. They usually hid from humans, since they started being hunted.

“What were you doing so close to the ship- wait, sorry. You probably have no idea what I’m saying.” Akira shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It was a well known fact that merfolk didn’t speak human language.

The creature frowned, seemingly deeply offended.

“I’m not dumb. I can speak your dumb language.”

“I didn’t- I mean…” Akira blinked, startled. The creature sounded a bit strange, but he was fluent enough.

“You can stop the bullshit, ok? Kamoshida knows I can speak, and anyone from his crew knows it too.”

“I don’t even know this Kamoshida person. I’m not a poacher. I just got assigned here today.”

The aggression immediately left those brown eyes.

“Oh. I guess it makes sense then.” The blond looked around, swimming in place. “I was just passing by and saw his ship and I thought of throwing some rocks at this stupid thing so it might stall him a bit.”

Akira leaned closer, trying to hear the blond through the thunderous noise of the rain splattering hard around them.

Later, Akira would want to smack himself in the head for being so stupid. It should be so obvious what was going to happen. But they were both distracted, and the rain was too loud to allow them to hear fickle things like footsteps. Akira just noticed when something blocked the partial daylight, a shadow just behind him.

“Who do we have here?”

It was a man’s voice, but Akira didn’t recognize it. The blond, however, seemed to do. His brown eyes got wide, and he immediately yelled:

“It’s Kamoshida, run!”

Akira did turn to run away, but he was a bit too late for that, and the blunt handle of a saber came down hard on his head.

He was too dizzy to see how the merman stopped a second too long when it heard him crying out.

He did hear a pained scream not long after, and then something heavy being brought on board of the ship, still trashing.

“This damned monster, now I finally got him.” Akira heard, and he felt his chest tight with worry. Of course. The captain hunted merfolk. He noticed the hat, and the nicer clothes. Kamoshida was the name of the captain of the ship he had been assigned to.

Kamoshida’s eyes turned to him. “And of course this scum here would turn out to be a mutineer. I knew he was bad news, when my friend asked me for him to join this crew.” And Akira was fairly certain Kamoshida wasn’t ever going to give him a chance.

“I was invited to an important event at the next port so I’ll wait to hand you over to the authorities in the next town.” Kamoshida went on, and Akira’s head was pounding already, and he wished he wasn’t so dizzy otherwise he’d have decked the captain’s stupid face just to get him to shut up.

“And you… I might already have a buyer in potential. If you live that long that is.”

It was clearly a petty vengeance coming from a pitiful man who cared more about humiliating others than he could care about money. He cared about having power over others, and he’d enjoy watching them squirm in place.

Akira was thrown in the brig, and heard the lock clicking heavily. He cursed under his breath, looking around.

There was a metal container there, filled with water and fixed to the floor with screws. It was occupied, unfortunately.

The merman he saw earlier looked in agony, his breathing shallow and fast. The harpoon had caught him by a few inches, and had been torn free of him as he struggled. What remained was an open wound on the side of his tail, ragged edges bleeding a startling red blood.

His scales were a gentle shade of gold. It seemed to gleam faintly in an ethereal way even under the dim light. It was this bit heartbreaking to see something this beautiful with a wound like that.

“I just wanna help.” He held his hands up, in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture.

The creature bared its teeth, snarling. He had very sharp teeth, indeed. Clearly made to tear flesh.

“It’s okay,” he said, trying to calm himself down, because if the merman was going to survive, Akira would have to do something to help. Kamoshida would clearly enjoy watching the specimen die slowly.

Akira reached a hand out.

The merman snapped his mouth, threatening a vicious bite.

The venom was known to paralyze its victim in a few seconds. Painful. Probably deadly, but as far as Akira knew merfolk liked to eat its food while it was still alive, so no one really knew if the venom was fatal.

Those who bought merfolk as exotic pets usually had them muzzled most of the time. Sedated when not. Some pulled off all of their teeth and used it as decoration.

A few tried to get rid of their vocal chords, because they hated the shrills merfolk made.

“C’mon, we need to get that treated. You don’t wanna give Kamoshida the satisfaction of actually killing you.”

That earned him a startled blink from the merman, followed by a resentful glare pointed at the door, where he last saw the captain.

“You’re right.” He seemed to deflate, and allowed Akira to come closer.

“So… if you don’t wanna hunt merfolk, why are you here?” The blond asked in a voice that trembled in pain, but he was bravely pretending otherwise.

Akira found himself telling it all. Maybe because it was the first friendly contact he had since he got arrested. Maybe because the blond made him feel oddly at ease. But as Akira tried his best to stop the bleeding using his own shirt, he started talking about before.

His tale had the merit of distracting the merman from the pain. When the blood stopped overflowing, and as he finished tying off the cloth around the wound, the blond was entirely caught up with the story.

“That’s horrible! It wasn’t fair. I can’t believe they did that to you. And now you got caught up with Kamoshida’s shit.”

Akira blinked, feeling a curious pressure on his throat. It was the first time anyone told him that. It was the first time anyone really looked at him after he was labeled a criminal.

But it made some sense, that another one that was seen as inherently evil and wicked would understand him. They both knew what humans could do to those they deemed too different.

“So… I’m guessing you’ve met Kamoshida personally before this.” Akira was curious about the merman’s reaction at seeing the man, and the disgust in his face at just uttering his name.

“Yeah. He kinda got me once already. He almost caught me and a group of my friends. But I stayed behind and gave them the alarm, and Kamoshida caught me and broke my tail. Sent me back just so all the others would see what happened to those who tried to save one another. He’s trying to divide us, so he can have an easier time catching us.” And he had already broken that one specimen, it wouldn’t be worth that much in the market. But it’d kept the others afraid enough.

“That’s... that’s horrible,” Akira breathed out.

The merman fell silent, and it was just then that Akira noticed how quiet everything was. The late afternoon had probably turned into night without him realizing it. The ship was rocking slightly, a bit differently from when they were at the shore. With a pang of anxiety, Akira realized they had set sail.

There was no way out, and the ship was silent as a tomb as the night grew late. Akira was glad for having company.

Until the next port at least. And then the merman would be sold off, and Akira would be handed over to the authorities and arrested.

They had little to occupy their days, but they had each other, at least. Theyplayed games, and talked, about nothing and everything.

“What do you miss the most, from back home?” Akira asked, one day.

“My mom. You?”

“I don’t think I have anything to go back to.”

Over the days, Akira learned that his new friend’s name was a couple of whistles he had no idea on how to pronounce. He was feeling a bit self conscious about his inability to say it, but the blond looked very frustrated as well as he tried saying his own name.

“Air is so weird,” the merman complained, trying saying his name again and just ended up producing some hisses.

Since he couldn’t tell his proper name out of the water, the blond insisted on Akira suggesting some human names that would fit him. He got into his head that it’d be cool to have another name. He was also extremely picky, and wanted something that sounded cool enough, and that had a relevant meaning.

After many names were discarded, one day, he settled on one.

“Ryuji. I like the sound of that. And I like that it was a warrior’s name. Ok, I’m Ryuji!”

Ryuji had a lot of scars. As if he had cut his back hitting his back on a sharp rock. A slightly crooked finger. A cut next to his eyebrow. Akira had expected for merfolk to have smooth and unblemished skin, but Ryuji wasn’t like that.

Akira wondered why he couldn’t find the blond any less pretty because of that. It was probably the smile. Ryuji had a beautiful smile, and a cute laugh.

Akira had never heard him singing, and he wondered if it was true their voice could put spells on people. His breathless laughter seemed to have a similar effect.

On that day, Ryuji started on the measly breakfast Kamoshida deemed to offer the prisoners, namely, a portion of fish.

“So… does your kind eat humans?” Akira asked, while he was gently washing the wound with what he could spare of the small supply of fresh water they were offered. Fortunately, merfolk seemed to have a much better time recovering from wounds, because it didn’t look infected. Could it be the seawater? Akira had so many questions. It was partially because he had never met a merman before, but it was also a lot just because he wanted to get to know Ryuji better.

The blond hummed as he acknowledged his question. Akira wondered if he should’ve started from another topic. He didn’t mean to sound judgemental. He really should try to improve his social skills...

“Some of us do,” Ryuji answered easily, seemingly unbothered by Akira’s bluntness. “Well, we’re all carnivores, and we are kinda similar to fishes, and humans, but we’re not those things. We wouldn’t eat another merfolk, but humans and fishes ain’t merfolk,” he reasoned. “Oh, but I’ve never eaten a human.”

He was born and raised on that specific part of the ocean, where hunting merfolk was pretty common, so it wasn’t really worth it to any of them to go after humans while in their original form. But they still learned human language so they could trick sailors into thinking they didn’t capture a mermaid, it was just that drunk lad over there who thought he saw a fishtail but he was wrong can’t you see my human legs and how I speak? Please let me go. “That’s kinda those poachers’ fault, tho.”

Akira looked thoughtful, but not afraid, and he didn’t stop treating his wound. Ryuji felt a swell of affection for that boy, so human and fragile, but so daring. So reckless. He’d probably try to befriend anything partially capable of understanding his words. And get his kind hand bitten by the creature. Mangled beyond recognition. Ryuji felt an uncomfortable twinge in his chest.

“I’d never eat you, tho.”

Akira tilted his head, apparently surprised.

“Why not?”

“Well, it’s like if you had a friendly... what do you guys eat for meat?”

“Fish as well. Duck. Pig. Rabbits.”

“Well imagine you had a fish as a pet. Or this pig you said. You think of it as your friend right? You wouldn’t eat it. You wouldn’t wanna.”

Akira huffed a laugh.

“What?! I’m being serious here, y’know?”

“Thanks.”

“What the hell…” he said, but he was laughing too, and Akira felt his heart beating a little too fast inside his chest.

At night, the chilly wind from outside passed through the gaps of the wood, dropping the temperature to an uncomfortable amount. Ryuji ran colder anyway, used to the water temperature of that region, so it took him a few nights to notice Akira wasn’t fairing very well. He woke up in the middle of the night to a small wound.

Akira’s naked torso shuddered as he drew in a breath. His shirt was being used as a makeshift bandage for the merman’s injured tail, and his ragged pants were made of a cheap and too thin fabric.

Ryuji gets out of the water then, lying down next to Akira.

“Will you be okay out of the water?”

Ryuji startled a little at hearing Akira’s voice, not having expected him to still be awake at that hour. But he supposed it was hard to fall asleep when he was that cold.

“If it dries up, after half an hour or so, my tail just changes into legs and I look like a human. I only need a few minutes in the water for it to come back, though.” The blond shrugged, coming closer and blocking a bit of the wind. “I’ve heard not all merfolk can do that, but our species around here can. My grandma says back in the day we used that to charm humans and trick them into falling in love with us. But I don’t know if it’s true.”

Akira considered the concept for a while, then made the very important math that soon enough Ryuji would be naked. Human naked. Of course Ryuji was kind of naked before, but that was different. Akira considered his options. Under his pants he was still using loose shorts as underwear. He could perfectly do without his pants, since his shorts came down to almost his knees. It wasn’t that proper, but who was he trying to impress anyway? It was more important not to have his attractive friend walking around naked.

“What you doing?” Ryuji curiously asked as he saw Akira getting up and taking off his pants.

“You can wear this when you get your legs. I-it can get a bit cold when you have legs,” he said, even if it was an excuse.

Ryuji shrugged, but seemed to believe his words, and kept the clothing in his hands.

They stayed close together, Ryuji trying to trap in a bit of Akira’s body heat. He’d probably be more comfortable in the water, which made Akira feel a bit guilty.

If the blond could make it to water, he could get away. Merfolk could swim miles, and too fast for any ship to pursue if they started running away, which was why they were mostly caught by using traps and other underhanded methods.

“What if I thought of a way to return you to the sea?” Akira asked quietly. “I could make a distraction and buy you a few minutes to swim away.”

Ryuji hesitated for a moment. It wasn’t something he liked to talk about, but then again, he trusted Akira.

“... I don’t think I’d get very far.”

“Why not?” Akira asked softly.

You know you can tell me anything.

Ryuji knew it. It felt a bit shameful anyway.

What’s a merman worth if he cannot even swim properly?

“I’m not… I mean, I can still swim, but I’m really slow. After… Kamoshida broke my tail, I couldn’t swim as before. I’m slow and I tire easily,” he admitted, looking away, missing the crushed look on Akira’s eyes as he realized the extent of the damage Kamoshida had inflicted on his friend. “Sometimes I think I should give up on the sea.”

“But you love it, right?”

Ryuji wasn’t used to anyone being able to look at him and… see him. It was incredibly nice, even if it made his heart hurt a little.

“Yeah, I do.”

They were silent for a few more minutes. The tiniest window on the opposite side of their cell allowed for a stream of moonlight. Akira contemplated it for a bit, until he heard Ryuji hissing, and he turned to look.

His hair was still messy and spiky, but it was tinted a common black, and his teeth were rounded and human. His canines still looked a little too sharp, but it was mostly imperceptible.

Akira very firmly didn’t look down.

Ryuji noticed him staring at his face, and he half smiled, making a valiant effort into putting on that piece of clothing Akira offered. It felt weird on his skin. He put one leg in one hole, and the other in the other hole, and pulled the cloth up. Then, he tied again the bandage around his newly formed leg. The wound looked more gruesome on his human skin, located somewhere close to his shin.

“So… how do I look?” he asked as he finished putting on the ragged clothing, and dressing his wound on his leg.

“You look like a thug.”

“Hey!”

Akira huffed a laugh, and Ryuji laughed back.

He took a moment to look at Akira’s eyes, the gentle curve of his nose, the pale pink of his lips. Ryuji’s heart did a funny thing in his chest when he did that last thing. Akira wetted his lips after a moment, and Ryuji looked away as quick as he could, his heart jackrabbiting against his ribs.

When he thought he had escaped that weird feeling in his chest, Akira’s deep and smooth voice sounded again, and Ryuji’s heart continued racing. It started doing that lately, when Akira did or said some things.

“I barely know how to swim,” Akira offered with a shrug. “I mean, I don’t think I’d drown if I fell in the water, but I wouldn’t last much there.” He could dog paddle and that was about it. Did it work? Yes, but that surely as hell wasn’t meant to be done for more than a couple of minutes.

Swimming wasn’t something he was expecting to need in his life, since his parents owned a farm, but then again since when his life went according to the plan?

Ryuji perked up at the information, though.

“I could teach you! You may need it someday! It’s… everything is so heavy outside of the water. You can’t go up, you have always to walk on the stupid ground and it’s…” He just couldn’t find words to tell. “Swimming is just the best thing. And the fastest you go, the better it feels. It can be useful even when you go back home.”

“I’d like that.” Akira’s gaze was far away, and he sounded oddly melancholic.

“Yeah… anyway, after we get out of here, we could travel the world together.”

“You… Will you want to stay with me? Even after you’re free to go?”

“‘Course. We’re friends, and I think it’d be awesome to go on an adventure, and help people on our way.” And he would have a chance to finally feel worthy, and to make his mom proud of him.

And there was no one else he’d rather go with on an adventure than with Akira. The realization hit him all at once.

“You’re my friend. And… Y’know how I told ya swimming made me feel? Being with you is kinda the same. I feel free.”

Ryuji aimed a bright smile at him, and Akira felt his heart skipping a beat, tripping over while doing something it should know how to do.

“I know a mermaid,” Ryuji continued, excited about the idea of their new adventure. “She’s travelled to other seas, she might know her way around. After we break out of here, maybe at the next stop for supplies, we could ask her for directions and then when Kamoshida notices we escaped, we’ll be far from his stupid ship.”

Akira nodded, thoughtfully.

“Sounds good.”

“Awesome! Then we have a plan.”

It was the thinnest skeleton of a plan, but it was enough for them. They could always wing it from there.

The day their lives really started to change started off as any other. Ryuji was restlessly sitting on his small container of water as he told stories about his life in the sea. Akira had started teaching him how to properly walk on two legs, in exchange of being taught on how to swim at the next chance they got. They had just stopped their training when they heard a commotion outside.

And then a small tuxedo cat gets thrown in the brig with them, screeching bloody murder. One of the poachers used one side of a manacle to put around its neck, and chained it to the wall just outside their cell. The crewmate looked warily at the animal, and threw the keys inside, hoping that the monster the captain caught would dissuade the cat from trying to get to the keys. Akira found it particularly odd, that anyone would put that much effort into capturing a cat. And found it even more odd that the crewmate somehow thought the cat could escape if he got the key.

The cat screamed well after the crewmate left, and it needed a minute before noticing there were more people in the room.

“Woah! A huge tuna! Looks yummy…” the cat actually talked.

“Gah! Aki, what is that thing?!”

Ryuji grabbed Akira’s arm, hiding slightly behind him and glaring at the newcomer. Just in case- he had never seen this cat thing before, but apparently it thought he was food because he had a fish tail- the blond leapt off the container, hoping to get his legs back soon.

“Huh… a cat. But I’ve never seen a talking cat before.”

“And I’ve never seen a talking tuna before.”

“Cat, stop saying my friend looks like a tuna.” Akira didn’t know enough about fish to tell, but Ryuji’s tail didn’t look like a tuna's tail.

“I’m not a cat and I have a proper name.” The cat tried to stand a little taller, but the metal of the manacles was suffocating him a bit. “I’m Morgana.”

They blinked at him. Akira knew he should have started to expect the unexpected since he befriended a merman, but seeing a talking cat was still weird.

“So… will you two let me out? Please, I can help you two as well!”

Ryuji hesitated.

“I dunno… Should we trust him, Aki?”

The cat looked quite miserable, and Akira pondered his options. He hated to see how they trapped such a small animal, and if the cat was imprisoned like them, he probably was an enemy of Kamoshida. Something in his guts told him it was an important decision, and that he kind of knew what he would be choosing from the start.

He really hoped he didn’t regret that choice.

He freed the cat, who took his time to stretch its lean spine and flex his legs. But, true to his word, Morgana leapt up and started trying to pick the keys to their cell from the hook where they hung. He had to insist for a few minutes, but he eventually got them and picked it up with his mouth, treading to their cell.

“There! It wasn’t a bad deal, was it?” He preened, while Akira made a quick job of opening the cell.

“But now what, cat?” Ryuji sullenly asked.

“There’s a storm coming pretty soon, you dumbasses. I’ve been roaming this ship since we left the port, I know the crewmate’s schedules, so we can sneak around them. And then you two can swim to the shore, we’re not that far away, but they won’t notice you’re gone, and they wouldn’t go after you in this weather.”

“What about you?”

“I still have some business here, but I can get out when we reach land. I can hide, I just got caught this time because the stupid captain got up at night out of nowhere…”

“Whaddya think, Aki?”

“Well, I think it’s the better shot we’ll have. I think we can manage to swim, if we’re that close to land. You can swim as slow as you need, and I won’t have to swim a big distance, I think it’s doable. After that, we can hide for a bit, and then go after your friend and ask for directions, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Ryuji nodded, and they all waited until he got his legs again and dressed up, and then they were on the run.

They parted ways with the cat somewhere along a corridor, with instructions about how to get on the deck.

The storm was fierce, having picked up in a matter of minutes, and Akira barely managed to keep upright as the ship lurched to the side. They emerged from below deck to the howling wind and thundering skies. Ryuji faltered, his leg still hurting from the wound, and from using muscles he wasn’t used to.

When the blond crashed into a few crates, they swayed to the side and slid downstairs just to crash into a door. The captain’s door, by the look of it, but they were sprinting on the slippery wood of the deck and running for their lives.

But of course, they weren’t alone above deck.

“They’re running away!”

The storm was sending huge waves that were washing over the wooden floor, tilting the ship in absurd angles, making it absolutely impossible to run. Akira froze in place, and whirled around to look at any possible weapons. Maybe if he took down that group of sailors, before anyone else noticed, on the off chance no one heard the alarm over the roaring of the storm-

It was then that Kamoshida showed up.

“Shoot them!”

Ryuji collided against his side, and the world tilted off its axis as they plunged into the water.

Akira tried to keep his head above the crashing waves, but he only managed to swallow an entire mouthful of seawater. As another wave passed above his head, his body was thrown to the side.

As he tried to swim up, he realized he couldn’t tell up from down even with his eyes wide open. The water was too deep and his lungs burned for air. Everything was salty water that burned his eyes and constricted his lungs from the outside.

The stormy sea at night was every bit as terrifying as he had heard about, and he was lost.

Ryuji’s voice was forming a series of shrills and clickings but everything was drowned out by the roaring in his ears.

Akira shook his head desperatedly, not understanding a single sound out of Ryuji’s mouth, his lungs spasming as he couldn’t hold his breath anymore.

His panic was suddenly cut off by soft lips on his mouth, strong hands framing his face gently. His heart swelled, and it was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted.

It was entirely like a breath of air.

Akira instinctively closed his eyes and let himself savour it, feeling a sudden rush of life running down his whole body.

There was a gentle thumb caressing his cheek, and suddenly Akira forgot entirely about menial things like air. His hands cradled the hands on his face, and he kissed back because he had sort of been wanting to do that for weeks.

It felt absolutely amazing.

They pulled apart, and Akira remembered again he was still underwater.

Ryuji’s lips mouthed human words for him, gesticulating his meaning.

Breathe.

Akira realised then and there that he really trusted Ryuji with his life. He tried to breathe.

It was the weirdest sensation ever. He shouldn’t be able to do that. But somehow as the water rushed into his mouth, his lungs stopped hurting as if he had taken a breath of fresh air.

Ryuji pulled him along, swimming slower than ever with his still human legs, away from the ship. After a minute or two, he got his tail back, and then he started to swim more easily. He brought them away from the eye of the storm, and away from Kamoshida, deciding to take the longer way to the shore, just in case.

They slowly made their way back to the surface, and when they emerged, Akira immediately turned to look at the merman. He felt a lot conscious of the fact that Ryuji’s strong arms were keeping him afloat. They were also really close, and Akira felt his cheeks flushing.

“W-what? How did I…?” It was raining softly over their heads, but he barely noticed.

How am I alive?

“A-a mermaid kiss can make you able to breathe underwater for some hours.”

“O-oh.” So Ryuji was just trying to help. Akira felt oddly disappointed. “Thanks.”

“A-anytime?” As soon as the words left his lips- that felt like they were still tingling with the kiss- Ryuji realised how much he meant it.

“Really?”

And Ryuji wondered if he imagined the small spark of hope in Akira’s voice. On the off chance he had been right, he decided to push it a little bit.

“Yeah. I liked it.”

Akira’s lips curled into a small smile, but he looked a little embarrassed, a blush still high on his cheeks.

“... You know, I think I’m still feeling a little out of breath.”

“For real?!” Ryuji blinked, confused. It should have worked! Maybe he didn’t kiss him right?

Akira huffed a laugh.

“No.”

“Then what- oh. Oh.” Realization dawned on him all at once, and Ryuji felt his heart soaring.

“Ok?” Akira asked.

Ryuji excitedly jumped him, and his kiss tasted like the sea.

Akira couldn’t stop himself from smiling throughout that kiss and the next one, and the next one.

If they kept that up, he’d have enough in him to spend his whole life living in the sea and never come up for air ever again.

27 notes · View notes

akirakurusuimagines · 4 years

Note

how about his s/o being a former sees member?

Buy me a ko-fi!

When you were a part of SEES, you weren’t much older than Ken. It was comforting, in a way, to have someone around your age going through the same experiences you were, at least when it came to the Dark Hour and Tartarus.

However, when Mitsuru had asked you to join the Shadow Operatives, you declined, explaining to her that you wished to live your life normally, at least for a while. Though you did keep in contact with your former SEES teammates, you still refused time and time again whenever you were asked about rejoining them.

Regardless, you still kept your evoker, “For the memories of what we went through,” you’d always say. You weren’t sure if you could summon your persona anymore, but you did believe that it would be there for you whenever you needed it. Mitsuru was glad to let you keep it, believing that you may end up needing it, especially if you decided to return to their group.

You had moved to Tokyo during your middle school years, and quickly transferred into Shujin as a high schooler. By some stroke of strange luck, things began to progress quickly in your second year. A transfer student with a record, the arrest of Kamoshida, the growth of the Phantom Thieves.

You weren’t a stranger to strange phenomena in the slightest. Your experience with the personas was proof of that in itself. For a while you stayed silent about it, watching the Phantom Thieves’ every move, trying to piece together what was happening. It was something otherworldly, you knew that for sure. But what?

Little by little, you began to suspect the transfer student. Little by little, you began to talk to him, to get close to him. At first, your goal was to seek out the truth. If something disastrous was happening again, your best bet would be to get involved and contact the Shadow Operatives, at least, that’s what you believed.

Something happened, though, as the two of you grew closer together. You found yourself genuinely falling in love with him, and from the way he acted, he was falling for you too.

But the pressing worry continued to eat away at you as the situation continued to develop, going from bad to worse rather quickly. You felt like there was no other choice but to confront him about your suspicions.

Of course you were nervous⁠— it had been almost 10 years since the events with SEES occured, so you were unsure whether all of your memories were correct. Not to mention, accusing someone of being a Phantom Thief could be something that breaks a relationship, and you truthfully didn’t want to do that. But… you were nearly completely positive he was related to them in some way, and likely a major part of it.

When you did confront him, the surprise in his eyes and the vague answer he gave confirmed it all. There was an awkward air of silence between the two of you before you slowly began to talk again, wondering if it was a good idea to ask.

“This might be a crazy question but… are you aware of the existence of personas and shadows?”

Now that seemed to punch the air right out of his lungs. As far as he knew, you had never been to the Metaverse. How did you know about personas and shadows? Were you the black masked figure they’d been searching for⁠—? Though he felt nauseous at the thought, he knew it was better to listen to you before he thought of anything. You never showed any ill intent before.

“…Yes.”

“Oh god, has the Dark Hour returned?” You couldn’t help yourself from spilling it, the worry in the pit of your stomach worsening. Perhaps it was another form of it? Did that mean you couldn’t summon your persona anymore?

To say that Akira was confused would be an understatement. “What are you talking about?”

This was going to be a long talk.

But eventually, you two shared your experiences. You told him about SEES (and the Shadow Operatives), about Tartarus, about defeating Nyx and Erebus, everything. You even showed him your evoker, explaining that in order to summon your persona, you needed to shoot yourself with it. The concerned expression he made when you told him that was honestly hilarious. In return, he explained the Metaverse to you, how they stole hearts and changed their cognition, about their ambitions and goals.

Frankly, it was a relief. It didn’t seem like he was lying, and it didn’t seem like your previous leader’s sacrifice was in vain.

You had asked him to let you accompany him into the Metaverse. You were unsure at first of whether you wanted to ask to join the thieves, considering all the times you denied Mitsuru, but at least wanted to give it a shot

Though a bit reluctant, he accompanied you into Mementos.

Hoo when you first saw him in his thief costume you nearly had a heart attack. If he wasn’t already considered to be a criminal, him looking like that would do it immediately.

The two of you wandered into the lower levels of Mementos, the task becoming increasingly grueling as the tracks seemed infinite. Somehow, in the endless sea of tracks and veins, you managed to get separated from Joker.

You cursed under your breath, knowing that you shouldn’t have left his side, completely aware of the dangers that being alone in a place like this could bring. It reminded you too much of Tartarus, after all. Not to mention, you still weren’t sure if you could wield a persona… the evoker felt heavy against your hip, reminding you of its presence.

So when you were ambushed by a shadow, you couldn’t blame anyone but yourself.

There was no doubt you were rusty⁠— a simple attack from the shadow hurt a lot more than it should. But you were much younger back then, so there must be some advantages to nearly being an adult wielding a persona.

By the time you staggered up, already a bit bruised and bloody from the shadows overwhelming you, you could see Joker from the corner of your eye, fast approaching, with a dagger in hand. Still, he wouldn’t make it in time if you couldn’t do something yourself.

Pulling out your evoker, you immediately pressed it up against your temple, taking in several deep breaths, feeling your hand tremble ever-so-slightly. You could do it. You had to.

“Wait!” Joker’s voice was getting louder. The sight of you holding the gun to your head chilling him to his core, fearing the cognition would change your evoker to something deadly, rather than something used to summon a persona. At least, that’s how the Metaverse had worked.

But you were quicker, ignoring his words and pulling it, heart stopping for a moment as the recoil made you stumble, it only took a second before your persona came forth, slightly different from what you remember them looking like, though that’s to be expected.

A voice striking through your soul reinstated the connection between you and your persona, just as Joker caught up to you, hand twitching at his mask, ready to step in at a moment’s notice.

He’d quickly realize that there’s no need, watching you take out the shadows swiftly, with the skill of an experienced fighter.

Though you couldn’t deny the exhaustion that overwhelmed you as the shadows dissipated, knees buckling together and just barely being caught by Joker as he steadily sat you on the floor, still refusing to let go.

“That was reckless!” Joker’s voice was strained with worry, fishing in his pockets for one of Takemi’s medicines and handing it to you. “If the cognition of your evoker was portrayed as a normal gun instead, like mine, you could’ve⁠—”

“Memento mori.”

“What?”

“Death is inevitable. I’m not afraid of it.”

“Still⁠—”

You rolled your eyes and impulsively grabbed onto the lapel of his coat, pulling him down and smashing your lips onto his to shut him up, fueled completely by the adrenaline of reawakening your persona after so long.

Joker pulled away first, resting his forehead on yours as his shoulders relaxed just a tad bit, still trying to comprehend what happened. “Come on, let’s get you to safety.”

There would be a lot to discuss… again.

Regardless, a new addition to the team was always welcome.

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everyothermouse · 3 years

Photo

Made some designs for my old superhero au for funsies, enjoy

I am going to take this as an excuse to talk abt this au, some backstories and design details under the cut :)

Tw: suicide attempt (peters backstory) and abuse (hash’s backstory)

Also, i gotta warn you that the backstory descriptions get longer as we go on, as the longer i write for, the worse i get at being concise. My apologies!

Peter

Power(s): control over the shadow realm

Power triggers: fear, depression, sadness, anger, focus

Relationships: hash (daughter/apprentice), genny (ally), ms. Garner (friend/ex nemesis), gabby (ally), prince (assistant/nemesis) princess (nemesis?)

Backstory: Tried to die in a vat of Poisonous Liquidtm but due to the nature of the experiments Done by damian at Unnamed Lab Owned By Damiantm, instead of dying his misery manifested through shadow powers. He was a shadow for a bit before he was able to start being a person again, and he was so upset about being alive that he decided he needed to consume the entire city in shadow so everyone else would have to be miserable like he was. He would be repeatedly thwarted by a superhero in the city named flower girl, who would eventually (over the course of like 3 years) forcibly found family him. He now has a job and uses his powers for good, and has recently taken up a superhero apprentice :)

Design notes: the heart clasps on peters cape and arms were originally by Ms. Garner before she retired as a superhero. They are tools used to help focus magic, making it easier to stay centered and to direct magical forces. The heart in the middle changes color based on the magic surrounding it/running through it, for peter it is black, but for Ms. Garner it was red/pink. Peters crown is made of the same material, but is not quite as strong. Peter mainly focuses his magic outwards using his palms and the soles of his feet, thus why they are uncovered. Villain peter looks a lot less alive than current peter partially because of being magically exhausted, but mostly just because he is in very bad physical health, having dipped himself in a vat of poison and proceeding to get 0 medical help, and then also not eating or bathing and living on shadow magic and depression. The boots previously used for villain-ing are now his work boots :)

Genny

Power(s): super strength

Power triggers: N/A

Relationships: nut (son), mellisa (friend), gabby (ally), Ms. Garner (friend?), hash (ally), peter (ally), damian (enemy)

Backstory: genny was a single mother and teacher living a normal life when she was caught in a catastrophic event as the city’s super villain the week was wreaking havoc in the middle of town. When a car came flying at her child, she had no choice but to rush forward and try to get him out of the way. Usually this would have ended in disaster, but thanks to a mix mothers hysterical strength and the strong magic energy radiating out of one of the destroyed buildings (it was U.L.O.B.D., because its always fucking damian isnt it) she was suddenly imbued with the strength to block the car and escape. Soon she would realize that this effect wouldn’t go away, and thus she decided to try and use this ability to help protect the city from all the dangers which threaten its safety.

Design notes: the knife on her leg is attached with a very strong magnet, it is difficult for others to remove but easy for her to thanks to her strength. Her body armor is all much stronger than the other three’s, as having armour that is lightweight isn’t a priority for her in the same way it is for the others, due to her strength. Genny doesnt actually have that much more muscle mass than a normal reasonably fit person, as her super strength is not connected to this. She wears contact lenses in her daily life, but after the event in which she got her super powers her eyes are entirely white (nut’s eyes are also lightened, but not to the same extent as genny’s, you can actually see them from more than 2 inches away.)

Hash

Power(s): control over earth/rocks

Power triggers: fear, excitement, focus

Relationships: Peter (parent/mentor), genny (ally), gabby (friend), prince (annoyance),

Backstory: Hash has had the ability to move the earth since she was born, but her parents always shunned her for it, saying it was destructive and evil, and so was she. She was forced to repress her powers and was often neglected (and occasionally hurt) by her parents, as well as frequently being forced to socially isolate herself from peers and teachers due to her being “too dangerous.” She tried to run away from home, feeling as though she was a danger to her parents, but when she was caught she freaked and accidentally used her powers towards her parents out of fear. Her parents called the police, making her more afraid and causing her to become more destructive. After a couple days of chaos and no one being able to defeat her, she would eventually be talked down by [whatever tf peters superhero name is], a superhero in the city who had previously been a villain but was changed through kindness and love and what not. It took a while after that to convince her that she wasn’t some horrible monster, and to get her a way from her previous household for good, but now shes a lot happier and has moved in with peter. She’s also started practicing using her powers, although its pretty hard for her given she spent all the time that her powers were developing not using them, and thus doesn’t know how to control them at their new level. She likes to tag along and try to help out on superhero missions, but honestly her main focus right now is trying to make friends and become accustomed to normal daily living, which is difficult when you’re constantly afraid of everything and have no idea how to talk to people.

Design notes: her small cape/cloak is an old one of peter’s. She hand painted on the rock pattern and the green inside, and its not perfect but she likes it. Just like normal hash, she cut the sleeves off of all her shirts, even the ones that weren’t damaged, back when she was at her old household. After moving in with peter though, shes started wearing more long sleeved shirts :) . Hash may lift rocks from the ground and stick them to her body as impromptu armour when shes distressed, although she usually doesn’t purposefully do this as its not actually very good armour, its just annoying.

Gabby

Power(s): fire manipulation, lizard stuff

Power triggers: lizard: N/A Fire: focus, anger

Relationships: peter (ally), hash (friend/ex-rival), Dario (nemesis/enemy/rival), Akira (friend/ex-rival), genny (ally), Ms. Garner (mom/mentor), Mrs. Harvey (ally/girlscout troup leader), the other Mrs. Harvey (Girl Scout troup leader/ally)

Backstory: ever since she could walk gabby was convinced she had the ability to control fire, But none of the other kids at her orphanage ever believed her, and neither did anyone at her school. One day though these powers were put to the test, when the orphanage took fire and she rushed in to help the local super hero evacuate the other kids while the fire fighters were still on their way. It was at that moment she decided that she could be a superhero too, and that the poor superhero present at the time, flower girl, would be her mentor. She followed her everywhere being the annoying curious child she was, but all flower girl wanted was her to stay out of danger and go home to her parents (which she would eventually realize gabby didn’t have.) But when gabby proved her worth and saved flower girls life, flower girl finally caved and decided to start training her, as long as she promised to try to be more cautious, and to stop skipping school to follow on dangerous missions. From then on they were an amazing super duo! Together they fought villains and used the power of kindness and pretty flowers to brighten peoples day :) and after a while ms. Garner would even end up adopting gabby, yay!

Eventually gabby’s lizard features started growing in, which was pretty scary. But her mom showed her that they weren’t all that bad, and gabby realized she could use them to help out on super hero missions! Peter, who was flower girls nemesis, would move in with her and her momma temporarily while he was getting better, as he was very sick while he was a super villain. She decided to adopt him as her new second parent, which he never agreed to, but I mean hes never denied it so its basically true. Several villains and other hero’s have also been added (and removed) from gabby’s growing list of parents. After her mom got hurt really badly in the hash incident, she decided to retire from being a superhero, deciding that she needed to put more focus on her safety so she could take care of gabby. Gabby has continued fighting crime, now taking up a more independent role as a superhero because she’s a preteen and thinks shes mature, but she usually works alongside other superhero’s in teams or as partners, as her mom requires she have adequate supervision (bcus shes LAME.) She still gets somewhat serious treatment from other superhero’s given that she technically does have more years of experience in the field than like half the cities heroes and she has had a major role in taking down multiple big villains, but she’s still a child and is generally not to be trusted on her own, as she is minority stupid and majorly reckless.

I’m sorry that was so long,,,,,, it could’ve easily been 1 paragraph but i have failed 😔

Design notes: gabby isnt wearing shoes under the legwarmers in hercivilian design, she likes the good grip her feet give her. Sidekick gabby’s stick can make fire just like her current one can, but it does not have the other functionalities. Her stick is not just for magic stuff, she also wacks people with it, and knocks them off their feet and stuff, its quite sturdy. The thick line on her face is just face paint for funsies and to make her a little bit less recognizable (only barely tho.)

#artinevee #oc #digital art #hunters bullshit #Monsters superhero au #digital Doodles #This one was one of the first au’s i know because i made it when i actually thought about labs #labs peaked week 3 of the monsters universe #it is now bullying labs hours #sorry the read more stopped working! idk when that happened but i removed it and readded it so i think it should be back now ^-^

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fuyupeach · 4 years

Text

In The Works // Ryuji Sakamoto x Reader - Chapter 9

(really) long time no see!! i hope you're all doing well and staying safe!! i'm doing my best trying to get through this fall semester, and playing among us with friends is really fun! i hope you all enjoy this chapter, it ends a little abruptly but i don't think it's a bad place to stop since i really wanted to update! hopefully the next chapter will be out soon! thank you all so much for the support!! <3

The air smells faintly of curry, coffee overpowering its scent as you walk into Le Blanc. Looking easily to the left you see Akira, Ann, and Ryuji seated at one of the many booths, each waving once they see you.

“Welcome.” An older unknown voice greets you, an old man with glasses and a beard behind the counter. “One of Akira’s friends?”

“Yes,” you reply, still facing him as you slide into the booth next to Ryuji. “It’s nice to meet you.” You supply an awkward smile.

“No need to be nervous around me,” Sojiro smiles, turning to wipe freshly washed cups down. “Do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t interfere with my business.”

“That’s Sojiro for ya.” Ryuji catches your attention, lowering his voice as he looks at Akira. “So, we’re obviously all here because.. you-know-what.”

A cat pops up from Akira’s bag, seemingly sneering at Ryuji before it...talked..

“How do we know we can trust her?” Oddly enough, the voice sounded quite familiar to one very annoying creature that looked like a cat all that time ago.

“Morgana?” Your face scrunches up. Great.. You roll your eyes. “I can promise your secret will be safe with me. And it’s not like you won’t see me almost everyday at school.”

“I trust her.” Akira speaks up, pushing Morgana back into his bag and from sight.

“Me too.” Ann nods. “We’ve known her for a while, can’t imagine not trusting her.” She motions between her and Ryuji. It was true and common knowledge to you, but the statement still gave you comfort.

“Meeting adjourned then.” Akira gives you a small smile. “Anyone want drinks?”

------

Much hadn’t changed, if you were being honest. It was easier to have more company around you than just Ryuji, your transportation routine aligning with everyone else’s. You’re standing next to Ann on the morning train to Shujin when you decide to bring up Kamoshida. You had talked to Ryuji, but you knew Ann was just as affected, even more so with Shiho leaving. You may not talk with Ann as much as you two had in the past, but you wanted to try and change that.

“How are you feeling?” You ask quietly. “With… I know it isn’t the best place to talk but we haven’t had many chances to talk alone. ” you gesture awkwardly with your hands, but Ann seems to understand just fine, a bit of a shadow crossing over her face.

“I…” She sighs, tugging at the end of one of her pigtails. “I’m getting by. It’s a little weird being able to walk down the halls and not worry about having to avoid that asshole. It irritates me that he has that impact on me, despite his apology.”

Your eyebrows furrow, but you stay silent, letting her know you’re listening as you stand next to her. You weren’t sure if she needed a hug, but maybe you could ask her later. For now, you just listen.

“I know Shiho leaving will be for the best, but I’ll still miss her. It’ll be a little different, but I just gotta tell myself that we’ll both be growing stronger in our own ways.” Ann finishes, looking back up at you with a small smile on her face. “Thanks for asking, ___. I appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem.” You smile back, reaching for her hand and giving it a small squeeze. “We may not have been able to talk much before, but I’m totally here for you. I’d love to be close like we were before.”

“Me too.” Ann squeezes your hand back. “We should totally go out to this crepe stand I LOVE. And if you want, I’d love some updates on the Ryuji situation.” She winks.

“Ann!” You whisper, slapping her arm gently, eyes darting over to an unsuspecting Ryuji a few feet away. Akira seems to have heard it though, a small smile tugging his lips upward, Morgana’s eyes poking out of his bag, full or mirth. Goddammit. Whatever. Despite your thoughts your heart still races.

That had been the beginning of your assistance with the phantom thieves, though nothing much had happened for a good while after Kamoshida. You had gotten closer with Akira and Ann, sometimes even Morgana on his good days (he was still on thin ice). You helped out however you could, getting drinks from the vending machines and convenience stores when you could for their trips to Mementos, being there during their meetings, keeping a low radar.

It wasn’t until one morning on the train to school that things had begun to pick up again.

You’re standing next to Ryuji as you both talk to Akira, waiting for Ann to show up, a yawn leaving your lips. You never were a morning person.

Ryuji yawns next to you, mumbling. “So sleepy… I ended up pullin’ an all-nighter once I realized today’s the last day of exams.”

“You? Staying up studying?” Morgana asks in disbelief.

“Nah, I gave up on the exam.” Ryuji states. “I was playin’ some games, then before I knew it, it was morning.”

“You’re failing for sure.” Akira adjusts his glasses.

“I tried to get him to study,” You sigh. “You’re lucky you have such a great friend that’ll let you study her notes on the way to class.” Ryuji smiles at you as Ann arrives, also yawning.

“Morning! ..Huh?” Ann looks behind her suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Akira asks, taking the question right from your mouth.

“What, you see a groper or something?” Ryuji asks as well.

Ann turns back around to face you, twirling one of her pigtails. “No, that’s not it. It’s… nothing.”

You continue to be concerned, standing next to Ann as you all get on the train. Not long after you all get off at the designated station, Ann still subtly looking around her. Everything seems fine until she turns back around while you’re all on the escalator out, gasping.

“Oh my god, that guy got off! Isn’t this bad?”

“What guy?” you ask, immediately trying to spot who she was referring to.

Akira’s eyebrows furrow while Ryuji lets out another yawn next to you, lifting his arms. You try to ignore the flutter in your stomach as he seems closer than before.

“Hey! At least act like you care!” Ann pouts. Ryuji scratches his head as he sighs, moving up the escalator.

“Fine. Come on.” The three of you follow him.

You stick with Ann while Ryuji and Akira hide not too far, standing open in the city square. It doesn’t take long to hear footsteps that grow closer to you, keys subtly jingling with each step the guy took. You wait until it gets too close, turning around to see a pale hand reaching out to the both of you. Looking up, the guy is actually quite cute, dark blue hair almost completely covering one of his eyes. He would be if he wasn’t stalking your friend. Ryuji and Akira step in front of the both of your, intimidation on their faces. The boy tilts his head in confusion. Ryuji and Akira also glance him up and down, Ryuji turning to Ann with a doubtful expression.

“Hey, uh… Are you sure that’s him or are you just that self-conscious.” Ryuji asks.

“Urgh, I’m not that--” Ann starts before the stranger interrupts.

“Is there something you want?”

Ann pushes past Ryuji, you following a little bit behind. “That’s my line! You were the one stalking me!” She points.

“Stalking you..? That’s outrageous.”

“I know you’ve been following me! Ever since the train!”

“That’s because…”

And as if the situation couldn’t get any more comical, a black car pulls up, honking at you all. The backseat window rolls down, an old man in a green yukata laughing as he says this is where the stranger’s passion had led. What was going on…?

“I saw you both from the car… and I couldn’t help myself from chasing you.” The boy starts, turning his eyes to you as well. “I didn’t even notice the calls from sensei… But thank goodness I caught up to you.”

“Huh?” You couldn’t help but let out.

“OK…” Ann trails off.

“What?” Ryuji scratches his head again.

“You are the women I’ve been searching for all this time! Please, won’t you--”

“W-wait a minute, I--” Ann starts.

“Be the models for my next art piece?” The boy finishes.

All you can do is blink. This was already a tiring morning.

#ryuji sakamoto x reader #ryuji x reader #persona 5 x reader #peach writes

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twilightknight17 · 3 years

Text

So I almost disqualified these anon asks for using “every single [fanfic]”, but honestly the fact that we’ve moved to actually looking at the game itself feels strangely like progress. Plus, this is technically at least halfway to a new topic. You’re still harping on about Goro, but at least there’s a second target.

I have given you homework, though. Hope you don’t mind. You lot really need to start providing some evidence for the things you’re claiming.

I might jump around a bit while answering this, because three asks worth is a lot to cover, but let’s talk about Okumura along with the usual bullshit, under a cut!

P5 really doesn’t delve as deeply into the nuances of its morality as it could. They definitely gloss over a few things that could have been really interesting explorations of character motivations or potential conflicts in the group. (Conflicts that would have been a lot more interesting than Morgana throwing a temper tantrum.)

Not exploring those things leads to a bad habit in the fandom of black-and-white thinking when it comes to characters, instead of making the slightest effort to read past the surface level. People seem very quick to assign labels of “good” and “evil”, instead of accepting that maybe characters can be morally grey.

That’s what you’re doing now. So:

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- where it’s implied that we are supposed to “want them to hurt Akechi.”

- where it’s implied that Akechi wanted to kill Ren “out of fun”

Because why would the game need to disprove something it didn’t say in the first place? It’s not the story’s fault that you’re making wild assumptions.

Anyway, let’s jump and talk about Okumura!

I think the issue is that, when looking at the situation around Okumura, all the nuance is eclipsed by the fact that he didn’t deserve to die like that. Okumura received disproportionate retribution for his crimes, and between the media immediately turning on the Phantom Thieves (because it was being manipulated), and the kids panicking and worrying about Haru (because they never wanted to kill anyone), the rest gets set aside. Hell, it took them two days to remember that there was a possibility that Black Mask got him, they were so freaked out.

And there’s not really a moment to go back and discuss, “Well, yes, he shouldn’t have died, but he did still do horrible things”, because at that point, that would just be disrespectful to Haru. She’s mourning her father, and the lost chance to get back the man he used to be.

(Which is a different issue, because Haru wasn’t going to get him back. He was going to go to jail. There wasn’t going to be a happy family afterwards. But... I’ll chalk that up to teenagers not thinking ahead. It’s not like they think about what becomes of their other targets, either. I did read a really good fic once where Akira had to admit in front of Haru that he thought she was better off with her dad dead. She didn’t take it well.)

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- where it’s shown that Haru actually, specifically forgives her father. The third semester does not count, because that’s an idealized version of her father.

However, Goro does mention that his targets were doing the same thing as him during the engine room confrontation. While Goro doesn’t name Okumura specifically, the implication is there. And Wakaba isn’t mentioned, but considering how many people support the theory that Wakaba experimented on Goro...

I kind of want to write a oneshot of Akira/Goro and Haru/Futaba arguing about this now. Can’t really hit harder than, “You killed my mother!”/”Your mother tortured me with illegal experiments for a year!” X’D

Anyway, when I wrote Cascade, Okumura not being killed by Goro was meant to be a result of the Thieves getting to Goro earlier. He hesitated, because he was with the team. He’d been with them for an entire Palace, he knew how a change of heart worked, and his sunk-cost-fallacy mindset was starting to change, even just a little. It wasn’t because Okumura was a “tragic figure”, and you can’t really compare that to canon when the situations were different.

Now. Regarding this bit:

“the writing and the tone is that he, not Shido, is to fully toblame for the worst stuff. Why else do people still say he approached Shido intending to kill from the start?”

Shido’s perception of Goro is literally a soulless puppet that does whatever it’s told. Shido is ordering people killed just so he can become Prime Minister, and lets other people request targets in exchange for political favors. Shido has no qualms about having his allies killed when they’re no longer of use. That’s right there, in the game. How do you get “Goro is to blame for everything” out of that unless you’re a brain-dead idiot just looking for reasons to hate him? A powerful man orders a teenager to do horrible things, with the implication that there will be consequences if he refuses, and it’s the teenager’s fault??

During the confrontation with Shadow Shido alone, you get:

Shido mentioning that he “controlled” Goro

Haru saying specifically to Shido, “You even killed my father.”

Shido admitting that “It was thanks to me that Akechi was able to properly use his power to begin with.”

And then there’s the SIU Director before Futaba’s Palace, saying that the plan to trap and frame the Phantom Thieves was “too brutal to be [Akechi’s] own idea.”

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- literally anywhere where it’s implied that Goro’s offer to Shido was specifically about killing people

- literally anywhere where it’s implied that any of this is Goro’s fault alone

Because as far as I can tell, the only reason people claim that Goro showed up at fifteen years old and offered to murder people is because they’re idiots, interpreting the character in the worst way possible because they already hate him. The most likely scenario is that Goro showed up with a pitch of, “I can use these powers to get inside information and make your opponents embarrass themselves.” Shido is the one who started using him as a supernatural hitman, the “”“proper””” way to use his powers.

If the SIU Director thinks the Plan was too brutal to be Goro’s idea, and Goro himself refuses the order to kill the rest of the Phantom Thieves, I find it very hard to believe that he started out as a killer. Technically, he never says he wants to kill Shido, even. In the end, what he wants is basically a change of heart.

Because really, as the Thieves point out, they’re not so different.

#answered #nothing like typing up an essay in 20 minutes #which is more of my attention than anon prolly deserved #but whatever

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crackimagines · 4 years

Text

Dancing for Dummies (FE: Three Houses Short Fic)

Byleth-Sama: Love is War (Part 2)

-----

Part Listings Here!

All AU’s involved listed here!

-----

With the rush now on to have Byleth choosing her over Sara for the Ball, Megumi must find out how to be more appealing.

Unfortunately for her, everyone she knows has no idea how any of this stuff works either.

-----

The next morning after Part 1...

[Afterschool Hours - Trails of Cold Steel]

Once the bell rang, everyone got up from their seats and went outside.

The three houses and House Isekai began mingling among themselves, spreading the daily news and gossip as the faculty met up to have lunch.

It was only a select few that noticed Megumi and Sara’s strange behavior.

(Kazuma) “What’s up with them?”

Rean, Dimitri, Darkness, and Dedue looked over at the faculty members.

(Dedue) “What do you mean?”

(Darkness) “Are you referring to Instructor Sara and Megunee?”

(Rean) “Now that you mention it, they didn’t seem like themselves when teaching. Those two are usually pretty friendly with one another.”

(Dedue) “I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”

(Kazuma) “Well, duh. You’re not in our class.”

(Rean) “I’ll ask later, though I’m fairly positive I’ll be brushed off by Sara...”

(Dimitri) “Then I’ll ask Megunee.”

(Darkness) “Guess that settles that. Now, what were you talking about, Rean?”

(Rean) “Why does Aqua shout at herself, something about gremlins?”

(Kazuma) “Ooooh...That...”

As that conversation continued on normally, Dimitri couldn’t help but think about what they said about Sara and Megumi.

Dimitri was a bit concerned for Megumi. She normally didn’t have any problems with anyone here, yet he couldn’t shake off this feeling of dread.

...

Once the staff got their desired food, they began making their way to the table.

Sara reached for a bread from the basket, only to find Megumi’s hand reaching for it as well. They looked up and made eye contact, which caused both of their brows to furrow.

(Sara) “...Sakura.”

(Megumi) “Valestein.”

The two stared at each other for a solid minute, refusing to say anything more.

A tall shadow engulfed the light they were at which scared the hell out of them.

(Dimitri) “...Uh, pardon me.”

(Sara) “Oh, m-my bad!”

(Megumi) “Excuse me!”

They began to depart, but before Megumi could join the table, she heard Dimitri call out to her.

(Megumi) “N-No worries. We’re fi-...Actually are you free after lunch?”

(Dimitri) “I do believe so.”

(Megumi) “Great. We’ll talk afterwards.”

Megumi left, making Dimitri scratch his head.

(Dimitri) “This does not bode well...”

Sothis was watching the interaction go down and chuckled to herself.

(Sothis) “Well well...Looks like I should help get this going too.”

Sothis floated away towards the courtyard while everyone else at their lunch.

Later...

[Funny Footsteps - Fire Emblem: Three Houses]

(Dimitri) “...So this all started because you two just wanted to dance with Byleth? Couldn’t you both just dance with him?”

(Megumi) “Yes, well...I-It’s the principle of it all! Besides, I have to get chosen first! Imagine what I would have to tell my students if their teacher couldn’t get a dance first!”

(Dimitri) “Well to be fair, there is most likely a lot of other people who wish to dance with him. Besides, I wasn’t aware Yuki and the others cared for things like that.”

(Megumi) “It’s my pride on the line, Dimitri!”

Dimitri didn’t know what to say. He had never seen Megumi this flustered before.

Especially about Byleth.

(Dimitri) “Well, what is your strategy for winning over Sara?”

(Megumi) “Hm...I’m not sure. Actually, I don’t know how to dance properly at a ball. Something like this would never have come up in my previous life.”

(Dimitri) “Well, I am no expert by any means, but I did have to learn for attending these balls back in the Kingdom. Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

(Megumi) “...Actually, I think I know what you can help me with!”

(Dimitri) “And what would that be?”

(Megumi) “I heard from some others that you gave a dagger to a girl you liked-’

(Dimitri) HURK?!

(Megumi) “Maybe Byleth would like that-...Dimitri are you okay?”

Dimitri had unwillingly curled his hands into a fist, wanting to strangle Sylvain. His eye was twitching but he took a deep breath.

(Dimitri) “P-Perfectly fine, yes. Anyways, yes, Byleth might like that.”

(Megumi) “Do you think you could perhaps find a good one? I promise to pay you for your trou-”

(Dimitri) “Ah, pay it no mind, Megunee.-”

(Megumi) “It’s Professor Sakura-”

(Dimitri) “-It’s the least I can do for all you’ve done for me and my class. Since the day is still young I oughtta get to work finding one.”

Dimitri got up and nodded at Megumi.

(Dimitri) “I wish you luck!”

(Megumi) “Thank you.”

Dimitri left, leaving Megumi by herself in the courtyard.

(Megumi) “Now, what to do...”

Later that evening...

After a little while, Megumi walked past the dorms and towards the greenhouse. When she entered, she was going to think on what to do for the ball and how to get his attention.

As she watered the plants, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

(Yuki’s Voice) “Megunee!”

(Megumi) “Hm? Oh, Yuki-chan!”

She ran in the room with a bright smile.

(Yuki) “I’ve been looking all over for you! Minako and Kasumi have been wanting to see you!”

(Megumi) “Huh? What for?”

(Yuki) “You’re wanting to dance with Byleth-sensei, right?”

Megumi almost dropped her water can as she yelped.

(Megumi) “W-WHAT?! Who told you that?!”

(Yuki) “Yuuri-san did! The rest of House Isekai knows! Actually, I think the other houses know too.”

(Megumi) “WHAT?!”

(Yuki) “Jeez, you’re a little slow today. Now come on, let’s get going we have to get you ready!”

Yuki took Megumi’s hand and dragged her off towards the Training Hall.

-----

Earlier...

Ainz sat down at the head of the table as the others slowly arrived.

Albedo knelt by his side, her head facing down.

(Albedo) “Lord Ainz, everyone has been gathered as ordered.”

Ainz nodded and lookde to the door.

The first to arrive was Rean, followed by Edelgard, Dimitri, and Yuuri.

The next was Kazuma, Akira, the Arisato siblings, and lastly Yu.

They all took their seats and looked to Ainz.

(Ainz) “Albedo.”

(Albedo) “Yes, Lord Ainz?”

(Ainz) “...What exactly are we here for?”

(Albedo) “...Absolve me of my negligence milord, what do you mean?”

(Ainz) “I wasn’t the one who ordered everyone here. Did anyone here do so?”

(Minato) “No. I was told it was urgent.”

(Minako) “Same here.”

(Claude) “Don’t look at me.”

(Edelgard) “I’m not sure why WE were invited, honestly.”

(Dimitri) “Well clearly we’re all confused, who was the one who-”

(Kazuma) “It was me, actually.”

Everyone turned to Kazuma.

(Kazuma) “So, a little green birdy tipped me off to something VERY intriguing, something that I thought you all might wanna hear!”

(Ainz) “And what would that be?”

(Kazuma) “Our dear Sara and Megunee, are having a war! A war for Byleth’s affection, and I’m taking the bets!”

(Everyone) “...”

(Rean) “You REALLY called us all together just to tell us that?”

(Albedo) “Insignificant little...! HOW DARE YOU MANIPULATE US TO SATISFY YOUR OWN GREED!-”

(Claude) “I’m not opposed to a bet, honestly.”

(Yuuri) “Of course you aren’t.”

(Ainz) “Besides, the winner is obvious isn’t it?”

(Dimitri) “Yes, the winner is clearly Megunee-”

(Edelgard) “Valestein-”

(Claude) “A good tie, honestly.”

“...”

(Everyone) “What?”

(Minako) “Uh, the winner of that’s going to be Megunee. Haven’t you seen the two together, they look adorable!”

(Rean) “I’m inclined to disagree. I think Sara is more his type.”

(Yu) “You’re just saying that because she’s your teacher back in your world.”

(Kazuma) “Meh, my gang thinks that Sara’s gonna win too.”

(Ainz) “Is this seriously something we’re arguing right now?”

(Edelgard) “Sara will be the victor.”

(Dimitri) “Not if I have anything to say about it! I promised Megunee that she’d be getting the dance!”

(Claude) “Uh guys? Aren’t we getting a liiitle too heated about-”

(Minato) “Then it seems like its war.”

(Minako) “WAAAAARRR!”

(Yuuri) “Oh dear.”

-----

(Minako) “Aaaaand that’s about the gist of it!”

(Megumi) “I cannot believe this...”

(Kasumi) “From what I heard from Akira-senpai, this really ballooned up, didn’t it?”

(Yuki) “We’re not going to let Sara win this, which is why I called in some backup!”

A knock came from the door and opened with a hearty laugh.

(Alois) “Professor Sakura, there you are!”

(Megumi) “Oh dear god, no-”

(Alois) “So, you need some help in this fight, eh? Well worry not, we’re here to help!”

(Kasumi) “Dimitri-senpai is currently trying to find the perfect gift, right? Well, Minako, Alois, Yuki and I will help you learn how to dance!”

(Minako) “If you wanna score a man, YOU GOTTA DO THE HUSTLE!”

Minako spun around and pointed her finger up in the air, then pointed back into the ground, and repeated the same step over and over.

Kasumi, Megumi, and Alois watched awkwardly while Yuki joined in.

(Kasumi) “...Minako-senpai? This is a Ball, not a disco.”

(Megumi) “And aren’t you too young to know what the Hustle is?”

(Yuki) “Eh? How old are you, Megunee?”

(Megumi) “A-ANYWAYS! K-Kasumi, Alois, what do you guys have?”

(Kasumi) “Oooh! Well, there is ballet dancing you could do with your partner!”

Kasumi took a step back and bent her knees while putting her hands near her stomach.

(Kasumi) “One, and two!-”

Extending one foot into the air while keeping the other foot on the ground, she started spinning.

With her flexibility, her hand managed to touch the foot in the air and turned to Megumi.

(Kasumi) “Sakura-sensei! Could you please follow suit?”

(Yuki) “I think that’d rip her dress...”

(Megumi) “I-It would-”

(Yuki) “She’s a bit too large to do those crazy bends!”

(Megumi) “HUH?!”

(Alois) “That’s ballet dancing, not ball dancing! We need something a bit more simple! In these dances in the Monastery, you and your partner hold hands together and just simply step to the sides! I’m not sure what you kids have grown up thinking what a ball is!”

(Yuki) “What kind of music will it be? Is it classy? Rock? Pop?”

(Minako) “I don’t think he knows what those are, and if I had to guess, it’s string instruments right?”

(Alois) “You’re correct! And in fact, before I got here, I asked a friend who was musically attuned!”

(Megumi) “Oh, you mean Elliot from Class VII?”

(Alois) “No, it’s someone rooting for you!”

SLAM!

(Minako) “OH MY GOD.”

(Kasumi) “He can play instruments?”

(Yuki) “Hi Slayer!”

Doomguy waved at Yuki and turned to the others.

(Megumi) “WHY WOULD YOU INVITE SLAYER TO PLAY CLASSICAL MUSIC?!”

(Alois) “Oh relax, he’s only here as an example! Instructor Slayer, you can play classical music on that weird lute you have, right?”

Doomguy motioned his hand in a so-so manner.

(Alois) “Then it’s perfect! Yuki if you’d please!”

Yuki happily grabbed Megumi’s hand while Minako started going for cover.

(Kasumi) “Senpai?”

(Alois) “ALRIGHT, LET THE MUSIC BEGIN!”

Doomguy slammed a speaker behind him and put his fingers to the guitar-

BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

(Megumi) “W-WHY?!”

(Alois) “W-WHAT? I CANNOT HEAR YOU!”

(Yuki) “DID YOU SAY SOMETHING ALOIS?!”

(Kasumi) “WHAAAAT?”

(Minako) “SPEAK UP YOU GUYS!”

Doomguy slowly started backing away with his guitar and went back to his room, hoping to go unnoticed.

Megumi did learn something important on how to get Byleth however.

This was going to be a lot harder than she anticipated.

And that she was probably going to have tinnitus for the rest of her life.

#fire emblem three houses imagines #fire emblem three houses headcanons #fe3h imagines #crossover #house isekai #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #alois rangeld #megumi sakura #yuki takeya #minako arisato #kasumi yoshizawa #sumire yoshizawa #byleth #sothis #doomguy

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honeydots · 4 years

Note

(1) Okay, so I had an idea and had to share it with someone. You know how everyone in the Phantom Thieves has a problem relating to their parents? i.e they're dead or they're shitty people. I thought "What about Ren?" And had an idea. What if he has helicopter parents? His entire life is being controlled by his overly protective parents. I mean, in the Shido flashback, Ren says he needs to hurry home because he's late, perhaps a curfew set by his parents?

(putting this under a cut bc its a bit long!)

(2) and it could potentially explain why he doesn’t get any calls or texts from them. What if he got himself a new phone number when he moved to Tokyo, just so he could have a year of freedom from his parents’ oppressive ‘protection’? It would also explain why he never really talks about them as well, he just doesn’t really want to. That’s why he probably loved meeting Ryuji: because he doesn’t give a shit about rules. He’s the perfect best friend for someone who wants to rebel.

(3) and then I thought palaces. What if his parents had a palace? What if Ren got curious and checked their names on the Metanav and heard the words ‘candidate found’? I thought of 'Parents’ names, tower, Ren’s location’. What if Ren ended up just needing to know about it and went to investigate by himself because he didn’t want anyone else to know about his parents? But, then things go wrong, he loses his phone and ends up trapped in the palace

(4) The Phantom Thieves figure out what happened after Futaba and Morgana stumble across Ren’s phone and find his search history in the Metanav and of course rush in to save him. I thought it would look similar to a fairytale castle but different to Kamoshida’s palace. For example, a more blue/green colour scheme with more gardens and thorns, think Sleeping Beauty’s thorn fortress. And in the center of the castle is a huge tower. The parents’ shadows are king and queen, and Ren is the prince.

(5 and final, sorry for so much) the treasure room would of course be at the very top of the tower. And you know the bird cage theme from Yukiko’s palace in P4? Yeah, add that in there, and guess who’s stuck in the bird cage? Yep, it’s Ren. (Symbolism, am I right, fellow writers?) For the boss fight, I imagine the parents merging into one and transforming into a dragon, sticking with the fairytale theme. And can you guess what their treasure was? But, of course, it’s Ren.

Anon, I like this idea a whole lot!!! Let’s talk

Akira having helicopter parents to an extent of them getting not just a pair of shadows, but a joint palace is actually super concerning?? Just what kind of distorted desires were they forcing onto their son? Lots of the shadows we see in just mementos can be pretty severely bad, and we do deal a little bit with some of that scary parental helicoptering with Shinya and Hifumi’s mothers (though it wasnt really the main point for either of them), and both of them were only mementos requests. So thinking about the fact that somehow these two have created such a twisted palace revolving around their son… thats a little horrific. Especially since you mentioned Akira would be the treasure, so he is literally the source of the distortion. What kind of life was he living with them? It makes the situation of Akira drastically trying to cut them out of his life for even just a year more believable, and more saddening. Since he changed his number, that may have made the palace even worse, since they didnt have that source of contact. They may have been trying to keep tabs on him through Sojiro, since it seems like theyre at a point where if they didnt know what he was doing up there, they’d probably storm up to Tokyo themselves. (theres also the fact they both share a palace which is an interesting concept to think about, despite whether or not it could happen)

The palace being a tower where he is locked inside for protection made me think of Rapunzel. Obviously theres differences in the story, like the King and Queen arent the ones who locked her up, but theres a similar vein there. On that note though, Akira being the prince to their king and queen is, while incredibly aesthetically pleasing, maybe not as accurate to their relationship… Something like royal guards/retainers may be more fitting. Only in that a King and Queen are not inherently there to protect and monitor their prince. They can do that, but it isn’t their base purpose. The relationship between King/Queen –> Prince is, at its core, Mother/Father –> Son. But they seem to view themselves more than that, guardians in more than just the parental sense of the word. So, something like two knights, who’s core ‘desire’ and sole purpose is to protect their prince makes more sense in my head (OBVI this is ur au and im not trying to say that was a bad idea at all!!! I think that also works very well!!! im really just articulating some of my thoughts here cause i really like this whole idea).

I do love them merging kind of as a final form in the last battle into a dragon, because it also sort of shows a certain mental awareness of what they’re doing to their son? Lots of fairy tales (looking at you, Shrek) have a dragon who mercilessly protects their princess like a sort of treasure, and its never in a positive sense. It shows that their over protection is more than just innocent concern over their son. It’s an obsession. Their way of life. He is just their precious object.

The treasure being Akira is very fitting in that way. Especially, I think, if it was specifically a very young version of him. Just a little child, who needs protection and safety and care. That’s where all the distortion began.

All in all, anon, don’t apologize for the long ask bc this kind of stuff is SO up my lane and i loooove it. It gave me lots to think about and actually got me pretty excited thinking about writing some of my own au’s in the future so… thank u for that!!! This idea is super duper fun!!!!!!

#SORRY this is so long i just really fucking love thinking about palaces #its such an interesting concept and you really can just go bonkers with it #ive come up with bunches of random palace ideas in the past for all sorts of stuff its just something i think is so cool #again tho!!!!! i dont want u to think i thought any part of this idea was bad i truly am just slappin my thoughts down here #its very fun!!!!!! and i hav lots to say #ive thought of a lot of different scenarios for akiras parents but i never really thought about something like a joint person palace....#i really wonder if that could happen #thank u anon im gonna have so many thoughts to think tonight!!!!!!!#ask #anonymous

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thecorpulentbeagle · 4 years

Text

Okujima Week 2020: Metaverse

This part is going to take place in the Persona Q2 universe. If you don’t know the plot of this game, don’t worry! I will be giving background in the descriptions of this story so that you have a relative idea of what is going on. Essentially, the casts of P3, P4 and P5 are all together in a cinema labyrinth, trying to figure out how to escape. Of course, they fight some enemies here and there!

If you are playing this game and do not want to be spoiled, I will let you know that this story will require knowledge past beating the fourth labyrinth, as there will be mention of an F.O.E. from this labyrinth.

If you haven’t played this game, I highly recommend it! I had a blast playing it, and the first game (Persona Q) is fun as well. Both games are standalone, though, so you don’t have to play the first to understand the second.

But enough rambling out of me!

Here is the fanfiction.net link.

Please enjoy this fourth part of the Okujima Week 2020 Challenge!

As always: THIS STORY WILL NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 ROYAL, BUT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5.

Okujima Week 2020 Challenge:

Showing Strength:

Metaverse

-Makoto-

“Everyone ready?”

The four Persona-users nodded their heads at their current leader, signaling their agreement.

Akira, clad in his Joker outfit, nodded back. “Then let’s take him down!” He stepped forward, the rest of the group following behind him.

“It’s gonna be a one-hit KO!” Akihiko shouted, slamming a fist into his gloved hand.

“One good kick will send it flying!” Chie cheered back, kicking the air in front of herself a few times.

Makoto shook her head in amusement as she watched the two. The special screening mission that had been assigned to them had involved finding a strong enemy to defeat for the battle-enthusiasts of the group. It had been called “Let Your Fists Do the Talking”, and Chie and Akihiko had taken this to heart (even though Chie would be using her legs and feet).

Makoto had decided to join in as well, hoping to devise a training regimen for them, seeing as they had asked her for just that earlier. The mission so far had gone relatively smoothly, even though this labyrinth in particular was extremely creepy and disorienting.

Everything in it was cute… at least on the surface. There was an underlying… disturbing quality to everything, and this enemy that they were about to engage was no exception.

According to Futaba, it was called Mr. Bear, and it certainly looked like one. It was a tiny stuffed teddy bear, and it would skip around the labyrinth.

However, once it skipped for a few moments, it would transform into a grotesque form, tripling in size and turning into more of a buff grizzly bear. It was certainly nothing like the Buchimaru-kun stuffed animals that Makoto had collected in her room.

Futaba also let them know that its power readings were off the charts (she had originally screamed something about it being “over 9,000”, and it had sounded like the young girl was quoting something, though Makoto had no idea what).

Luckily, Akira had decided to pack the team with powerhouses that were relatively agile as well. Seeing as the screening was tailor-made for Akihiko, Makoto, and Chie, the three were obviously in. Since Akira had been leading the group for this journey, he decided to come along as well.

After several minutes of debate, Akira decided to bring Haru along. Though she was slow with her axe, when her strikes did connect, the damage was a sight to behold. The girl also had the most health out of anyone, so she could take hits if necessary.

Makoto was glad that Haru would be coming along, as the two had great chemistry when it came to battle. They also had great chemistry off of the battlefield, but that fact wasn’t as important now.

Though the brawler was happy that her girlfriend would be accompanying them, she was also slightly nervous. She didn’t want Haru to get hurt, as Akira had warned them all that it was very likely for everyone in the group to sustain potentially life-threatening injuries in this particular battle. Everyone had signed on willingly, but Makoto couldn’t help but worry.

As the group approached the transformed bear, Makoto lifted up a hand and squeezed Haru’s shoulder. “Be careful, alright?”

Haru turned to look at her. Makoto saw that, while Haru had been quiet for most of this mission, her expression was now alight with a sadistic gleam, her eyes sparkling and her smile in an upturned grin. This wasn’t entirely unusual, as Haru delighted in slaying Shadows. However, it was a little worrisome to see after telling her to not be reckless.

When she noticed Makoto looking at her strangely, her features returned to something more normal.

“Of course, Queen. You be careful too,” she murmured.

Makoto nodded. She knew Haru had a tendency to attack with reckless abandon, which usually worked in their favor. However, Makoto had a particularly bad feeling about this enemy, so she wanted to make sure that Haru was brutal, but still careful.

She let go of the girl’s shoulder as Akira threw a dagger at the bear, causing him to roar and charge at them.

“Everyone, get in position!” Akira yelled.

Makoto and Akihiko readied their fists, while Chie began to jump back and forth between both legs, warming them up. Haru lifted up her axe, and Akira brandished his dagger.

Mr. Bear roared, appearing to charge up energy.

“Watch out, guys! It looks like the enemy’s gonna hit you really hard soon,” Futaba warned, her voice crackling with static as she projected back from their base.

“Got it, Oracle.” Akira stood to guard and instructed everyone else to do so.

It seemed that this was a solid plan, as Mr. Bear flailed and struck everyone in the party. Makoto grunted as she sustained damage, and heard everyone else do the same.

“Damn it,” Akihiko growled. “The thing’s got a heck of a punch.”

Makoto didn’t want the group to be reckless. It wasn’t worth getting killed over just to complete a mission that had been devised for entertainment. “Oracle! What are our chances with this?”

Meanwhile, Haru had swung her axe and connected with her target. Blood gushed out of the bear’s arm as he roared in pain. Makoto’s stomach dropped when she saw that his glare focused on the axe-wielder.

Luckily, Chie sent a kick its way, which disoriented the creature and caused his focus to be split between the two.

“I’d say you have a 60% chance with how it’s going right now,” Futaba answered.

“What?” In her panic, Makoto had nearly forgotten that she had asked Futaba a question. That was dangerous. She couldn’t afford to get distracted – it could literally be the difference between life and death. Shaking her head, she responded, “Thanks, Oracle.” She called out Johanna to increase the defense of the party, seeing as Mr. Bear’s hits were dealing an alarming amount of damage.

60%. Those weren’t good odds. Even so, Makoto had a duty to listen to Akira and support her allies.

The battle raged on for a few more turns. Mr. Bear had finally started to show signs of damage, but everyone on the team was a mess. Futaba was frantically healing what she could, but her support had its limits.

Makoto was sure that if this were a battle in the real world, they would all probably have broken bones, if not worse. The damage was so great, that she could easily see some of them being dead.

She struck a quick uppercut with her right fist, grunting with exertion. It was like punching a brick wall.

As if hearing her inner thoughts, Mr. Bear proceeded to plow into the team, the force feeling like a ton of bricks falling on them.

“This isn’t good,” Akira muttered. Chie and Akihiko were barely able to stand upright, and Akira didn’t look much better. Haru seemed to be faring the best, though even she looked utterly exhausted. Makoto herself knew that the group couldn’t sustain another attack like that.

“Guys, I’m not gonna have enough energy to heal you again.” Futaba appeared to be panicking. “It’s not worth it. You need to run. Now!”

“No! It’s almost down. We’ve gotta finish this.” Akihiko blindly swung a fist, missing the beast. He stumbled and fell.

“Crap, I don’t have enough health to strike him hard!” Chie shouted. She put her hands to her knees, breathing heavily.

“Queen, can you heal any of us? Or do we have any items?” Akira turned to look at her, his eyes pleading.

Makoto nodded. “No more items, but I think I have enough energy to heal one person.”

“Got it, heal –”

A devastating roar cut off what Akira was about to say. Makoto looked back at the enemy to see that it was preparing to strike.

“Shit!”

Mr. Bear swung with its arms, hitting the ground in front of him. Makoto saw that Akira had blocked, but that Chie and Akihiko were not going to react in time.

Makoto raised her arms to defend herself, but she knew that this hit would end her. She closed her eyes.

But they opened in shock when she heard a cry of pain directly in front of her. She saw with horror that Haru had leaped in front of her, shielding her with her body.

Unfortunately, Haru had not had any time to defend herself, so she took the full force of the attack. She flew back into Makoto, knocking her off of her feet and sending both of them to the ground.

Luckily, Haru seemed to have dropped her axe when she jumped in front of Makoto, otherwise the blade would have impaled them both.

But Makoto didn’t care about that now.

“Noir! Noir! Haru!” Makoto cried, sitting up with the girl in her arms. She didn’t move.

“Queen! We need to finish this fight now!” Makoto vaguely heard Akira in the background, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Haru.

She couldn’t believe it. The two had talked about defending the other with their lives, but Makoto had always assumed that she would be protecting Haru, as she had done so several times in the past. Not that the other girl couldn’t take care of herself, because anyone with eyes could see that she could do that in spades. It was because Makoto never wanted to be in a situation where Haru would have to risk her life for her.

“Useless!” she thought to herself.

“Queen!” She felt her shoulder being grabbed roughly. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at Akira, who was looking at her with an expression of forced calm. “Noir, Akihiko, and Chie are all down. We need to destroy this enemy, or we’ll be next.”

Makoto nodded. She took one last glance at Haru before setting her gently down on the ground. “Thank you…” she murmured.

“I’ve boosted your attack. Give ‘em hell, you two!” Futaba cheered.

Makoto cracked her knuckles as she felt power swell within. “With pleasure,” she growled.

She launched herself at the creature, punching it twice with all of her might. Mr. Bear roared in pain as it reared back, dazed.

“Ha!” Akira jumped at the beast, taking advantage of its distraction as he slashed at his eyes, blinding it.

“Queen, now!” Akira commanded.

Makoto roared just like the beast before throwing a haymaker at Mr. Bear’s head, slamming it down. The ground shook as it collided, and it gave one last deafening cry before it was silent.

Makoto and Akira looked at each other, both breathing heavily. “Nice work, Queen,” Akira murmured, smiling gently at her.

Makoto nodded. “You as well.” Her eyes widened as her adrenaline returned to normal and she remembered why she had become so enraged in the first place. “Noir!”

She ran over to the girl, who appeared to still be unconscious. She knelt down, dropped her weapons to the ground, and gently lifted Haru’s upper body onto her lap, her previous violent rage replaced with a gentle and worried touch. “Haru…” Makoto whispered.

“Ngh…” Haru’s eyes were still closed, but it seemed like she wasn’t entirely unconscious anymore. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and Makoto could see a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Not that that was particularly unusual, given how hard they had all been fighting. Makoto herself was practically drenched.

“Queen.” Makoto looked up to see Akira standing a few feet away, looking down at her with a concerned expression. “How is she?”

She looked back down at her girlfriend, who was continuing to make sounds of pain. “Not good,” she said simply.

Akira gave a deep sigh. “Akihiko and Chie aren’t doing much better.”

Makoto quickly glanced over at the other two members of their party. They were both unconscious, but the rise and fall of their chests proved that they were still alive.

“You guys! That was awesome!” Makoto jumped a little at Futaba’s sudden exclamation. “Mr. Bear is no more!”

“Thanks, Oracle.” Akira rubbed the back of his neck.

Makoto simply nodded in acknowledgement before looking back down at Haru, whose teeth were gritted. She couldn’t stand to see her in so much pain.

“We’re gonna need to head back –”

Makoto interrupted Akira’s instructions as she stood up, cradling Haru in her arms. As soon as she was up, she realized that this might have been a mistake. Her own muscles were burning from exertion, and she could feel the wobbliness in her knees from having to support the weight of two people.

“I’ll get Noir. Can you handle the others?” Makoto indicated the two other members of their party with a quick jerk of her head.

“Queen. We can just have Oracle teleport us back you know.” Despite the situation, Akira gave Makoto a slight smirk.

“O-Oh. Right. Of course.” She could feel the heat building up behind her mask.

“But by all means, continue carrying your girlfriend bridal style. I don’t mind.” Akira snickered. “By the way, here’s her hat.” He plopped it down onto Haru’s head. Makoto hadn’t even realized that it had gone flying off when they had collided.

“Th-That’s not –”

“You’re such a sappy romantic, Queen! Who would’ve thought?” Futaba teased.

“Noir must have quite the effect on her.”

“Can we please leave now?” Makoto didn’t think she could take much more of this. Both the teasing and carrying Haru. It didn’t help matters that the rest of their large group was watching this scene unfold as a literal movie on screen.

“Got it!”

There was a flash of light.

The party of five arrived back at the lobby, with Akira’s, Makoto’s, and Haru’s Phantom Thieves disguises disappearing and turning back into their school uniforms.

With the little bit of energy Makoto had remaining, she dashed over to a free couch to deposit Haru onto it. She felt terrible as she essentially dropped the other girl, but it was all she could do before collapsing to the ground on her knees.

“Whoa! Take it easy, Makoto-san!” Rise was by her side in an instant. “Haru-san’s safe. We’ll make sure that we take care of her now.”

“We’ll need to take care of Akihiko-senpai and Chie-chan too!” Yukari appeared by her other side. She turned her head to look behind herself. “Can we get them on some couches?”

“On it!” Junpei picked up Akihiko and took him to another available couch, dropping him unceremoniously.

“Would you mind getting Chie, Kanji-kun?” Yukiko asked. She was kneeling by her best friend’s side.

“Leave it to me, Yukiko-senpai!” Kanji flexed his bicep before diving in to retrieve the girl.

Makoto watched the events unfold in a haze. She was mostly checking on the status of her teammates by instinct, and once she confirmed that they would all be okay, she turned her attention back to Haru.

“We’ll need to heal you up as well, Makoto-san.” Fuuka popped up behind her, resting a hand on Makoto’s shoulder.

Makoto shook her head. She didn’t need help right now.

“Hey, Fuuka.” Yukari stepped back. “Why don’t we get some healing stuff for them and bring it over?”

Rise jumped back as well. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

The three girls walked over to the concession stand, most likely to secure popcorn and hot dogs. No one really understood why these foods healed so well, but they decided a while ago not to question it.

Makoto turned back to Haru, who seemed to be waking up.

“Haru.” Makoto’s hand went to her cheek, slowly stroking it with her thumb.

“M-Mako-chan?” Haru murmured. Her eyes were still closed.

“Yes. I’m here, Haru.”

“We won?”

“Yes. Yes we did.”

Haru opened her eyes slowly. They were glassy, and it seemed like she was having trouble processing everything around her. Once she made eye contact with Makoto, however, she smiled tiredly.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Haru…” Makoto teared up. She had known that Haru was going to make it as soon as the battle was over, but seeing her take such a devastating hit made her think… even for the briefest moment… that she might not ever see Haru open her eyes again.

“Hey now. It’s going to be o-ah!” Haru winced in pain as she leaned up. She had probably been trying to reach Makoto to comfort her, but instead had aggravated her wounds.

“Haru!” Makoto lunged forward. “Don’t try and move. That hit…”

Haru sighed and moved back down, resting her head on a pillow. “Right… that attack was…”

Makoto leaned down to place her forehead against Haru’s. “Haru. Don’t ever do that again.” She moved back to look into her eyes, hoping to convey how serious she was.

Makoto twitched in surprise when she felt Haru jerk her head forward to hit her own in a weak headbutt. “Mako-chan. We agreed that we’d always look out for each other.”

Makoto sighed. “I know.”

“I knew that I’d be okay. Well, relatively speaking.” She chuckled. “But if that had hit you…” Haru brought up a hand to comb it through Makoto’s hair.

Makoto closed her eyes at the calming sensation. “If it had, then it wouldn’t have hit you.” She could feel the tears welling up behind her closed eyes. The fact that Haru would risk her life to protect someone like her… who couldn’t even protect Haru in the first place, made Makoto truly feel useless. “I’m so sorry. I was…”

“Stop being so stubborn, Mako-chan!” The moment Haru’s hands stilled in Makoto’s hair, the girl opened her eyes. Haru seemed adamant, as she was now slightly tugging the strands, pulling the other girl closer. “I’m glad that I could protect you.” She leaned up to give Makoto a quick kiss on the lips. As she settled back down, her expression changed to a pained one. “You’re so important to me…” she murmured.

Makoto leaned down, missing their contact. She wrapped her arms around Haru’s shoulders, squeezing her as tightly as she dared, not wanting to hurt the other girl further. “You are too…”

The two stayed in this position for a few moments, with Haru resuming the petting of Makoto’s hair. Makoto was determined to show her girlfriend just how much she cared for her. If she couldn’t protect her in battle, at the very least, she should be able to shower her with affection.

Makoto knew that she herself was not a touchy-feely type of person. But now that she saw how quickly she could lose someone she loved, she resolved to be more upfront with her feelings, as she never knew when the opportunity for them could come to an end.

“Hey girls!” Makoto released her hold on Haru and jumped back up to her original kneeling position. Even though she’d just promised herself to be more affectionate, it was still hard to show these feelings when others were watching.

She looked up to see Yukari, Fuuka, and Rise standing there with some food. “Uh… we’ll just leave this here with Makoto-san. Eat up!” Yukari bent down to place the items next to the girl before awkwardly turning around and darting away with the others. To her embarrassment, Makoto saw the three of them whisper something to each other and giggle, glancing over at the two third-years.

“Looks like everyone was worried about us.” Haru giggled. Makoto saw that she was amused at their antics, a grin on her face.

“I suppose…” Makoto shook her head in exasperation. She grabbed one of the popcorn containers and picked out a piece, offering it to Haru. To her surprise, instead of delightfully eating it as she normally did when the two fed each other, she shook her head and pushed her hand away.

“Look, Mako-chan. I can tell that you’re still feeling remorse over what happened. I want you to know that I truly don’t regret doing what I did.” She took Makoto’s hand and gripped it tightly, causing her to drop the food onto the floor. “I love you, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you’re safe.”

Makoto looked into Haru’s eyes and saw that she truly meant what she said. She felt her heart flutter slightly at Haru’s sincerity. “Look at me. I should be the one comforting you. Why does it always seem like it’s the other way around?” She chuckled sadly.

“Because you support me with your actions, Mako-chan, both on and off the battlefield.” Haru squeezed her hand. “I know that putting feelings into words is hard for you.” Her grip loosened. “You know… I feel that I struggle in the opposite way.”

Makoto titled her head, not understanding what she was getting at. “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes… I feel as though I’m… what’s the phrase? All talk and no action. I can soothe you with words, but you always seem to be the one to protect me when we fight. That’s why –”

Suddenly it clicked. “That’s why you jumped in to shield me,” Makoto finished for her. So Haru really thought that she didn’t support her enough in battle? That she only ever comforted Makoto with her words? That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Makoto knew that she herself could be insecure when it came to many things, but it was strange to see Haru be so worried about something that Makoto did not even see as an issue.

Haru blustered on. “I-I want you to know that I would’ve done so regardless! But yes, as embarrassing as that is to admit, I wanted to be the one to protect you with actions rather than words for once. I wanted to show you rather than tell you how much I care for you.”

Makoto chuckled, a happier tone this time. “I… I really am flattered, Haru. But you don’t have to overcompensate. You show me how much you care for me every day without needing to put yourself in danger.” She tightened her grip on Haru’s hand, whose own grip had been so loose that she was about to let go. “We just each have our own ways of showing affection.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Haru smiled. “Thank you for saying so.”

“Of course. And by the way, anyone who uses an axe and a grenade launcher to fight is always someone that I would want to have my beck. How could I possibly be in danger with an ally like that protecting me?” Makoto laughed.

“I suppose when you put it that way, it does sound rather silly for me to have been concerned.” Haru giggled.

Makoto smiled, happy to be able to get through to Haru to have her understand just how amazing she was. “Also, I love you too. Just wanted to make sure that I responded to what you said earlier.”

Haru grinned back. “Well now, it looks like we’re both feeling better.” She looked down at the popcorn. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that offer of food now.”

Makoto nodded. Picking up another piece, she placed one into Haru’s mouth before taking a piece of her own.

And there we go! I figured since Makoto was the one who was injured last year, it should be Haru’s turn this year.

This situation was somewhat similar to what happened in my playthrough. Haru didn’t defend anyone (I don’t think that is an automatic mechanic in this game, or if it is, all my characters just hate each other!), but when Mr. Bear used his devastating attack, it literally one-shot everyone except Haru. I had support teleport us away, but it was pretty frightening to see my entire team except for one go down. Clearly, I wasn’t ready for that particular enemy!

The mission is a little different in my one-shot compared to what happens in the game, but I needed to change it slightly to make it more ‘Okujima-centric’. Hope it was still a good read, regardless!

Also, party members technically instantly heal once they reach the lobby in Q2, but I wanted Makoto to be able to tend to Haru, so I decided that they would still be injured. In fact, this is how it worked in Q, so it technically fits within this Q universe. I was so glad when they changed this mechanic for Q2 though, because I used up so many resources healing people in Q!

See you tomorrow!

#okujima #okujima week #okujima week 2020 #makoto niijima #haru okumura #makoto x haru #haru x makoto #p5 #persona 5

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arcanawildcard · 4 years

Note

Thanks for always writing amazing stuff! For the request, maybe Panther casting tentarafoo and accidentally hitting Joker?

taking requests here! (be prepared for a wait tho orz)

read on ao3

(just in case you forgot, this is Awakened God and this is Scathach)

Panther really, really, really doesn’t have any excuse, but she never realized just how much of their abilities were controlled by their emotions.

Revulsion and fear were usually the emotions she felt for Shadows and she never had any trouble hitting them, but apparently resentment worked too, because that was what she felt about Joker eating their last sweet right in front of her while she had none.

So when she cast Tentarafoo in the following battle, that clicky tug of magic felt like one too many—and the swirling ill-will caught Joker dead on as he slashed down the Shadow he’d been whittling down.

She, Queen, and Skull wrapped up the battle as quick as they could while dodging Joker’s drunken attempts at ‘help’, but they were all distinctly more battered than they should have been as they dashed to the nearest safe room.

Joker was still staggering as they slammed the door shut, swaying over to the nearest chair with Queen’s help and immediately faceplanting on the table, a far cry from his usual casual pace as he checked on them all.

“Man, is he still supposed to be this… out of it?” Skull muttered out of side of his mouth as they all watched Queen try to get him to drink some water. “Usually this stuff is over as soon as the last Shadow goes down.”

“Well, Panther’s still standing and we’re all a lot stronger than most of the Shadows,” Oracle pointed out in a whisper, though she looked equally concerned, “so… who knows. I didn’t even know we could get each other with these spells.”

“Neither did I,” Panther said. The guilt was unbearable. “H-he will be okay… right?”

Oracle shrugged, tapping the side of her goggles and focusing their many lenses on their incapacitated leader. “Should be. If it lasts more than twenty minutes, we should probably get out of here, though. Real air’ll probably fix it.”

Panther let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Right.”

“Until then…” Oracle’s lips took on a worrying curve as she singsonged, “Oh, Joker!”

Joker blinked fuzzily at the room, searchingly, before ending somewhere to the left of Oracle. “Haa…?”

“That’s a super cool coat you got there,” Oracle purred. Panther got the distinct impression of a kitten waggling its butt before going in for the pounce.

And Joker… smiled.

Proud and smug and disjointed and sleepy and oh no.

Oh no.

Panther didn’t even catch what Oracle was doing to butter him up before messing with him—that smile had a few of Cupid’s arrows poking out of her chest and butterflies in her stomach and an itchy warmth in her veins and hands. The world shrunk down to a terribly open and vulnerable and suggestible Joker—Akira—and the irresistible temptation that brought on.

(Gnah. To think that it took a magical roofie to finally break down that composed, regal reserve…

This was so cheating, but that knowledge didn’t keep her heart from beating hard in her chest and her mouth from watering as she considered the possibilities.)

Happiness, confusion, befuddled irritation, awe, disconcerted puzzling—each and every one of those emotions were written clear as crystal across his beautiful face as Oracle talked, slate gray eyes hazy.

His eyes found her at the back of the crowd, dopey smile flitting across his countenance for a second before it was replaced by a sad pout as he pointedly avoided looking at her.

Gurk.

(So much guilt, so much, and yet… he was just so cute she wanted to eat him up!)

To Panther’s profound relief, it didn’t look like anyone else had noticed the interaction; Queen was shooing Oracle away from him while Skull took her place as main instigator, Fox watching the scene with fascination and Mona and Noir hovered nearby.

“We need to let him rest,” Queen was sighing as Ryuji quizzed Joker about what he really thought about their popularity as Phantom Thieves and whether or not Risette was really the queen of idols. “Go. Let him lie down.”

The puppyish look Joker fixed her with proved to be Panther’s undoing; that weird little lurch of what may have been jealousy mixed with a keening longing.

“Oh! I can— I can help,” she blurted, winded. Her chest was just too tight. Her face felt hot as she added, “H-here, he can take the bench! I can look after him.”

“Uh,” said Oracle, shooting Panther an odd look as she approached. “Sure? Just… don’t do anything weird, okay?”

“Wha—?!” Panther squeaked—really squeaked. It wasn’t just her chest that felt tight. “Why would I do anything weird?!”

“Panther…” said Skull on a sigh, “you’re droolin’.”

She clamped a hand to her mouth with a strangled meep, absolutely mortified to find that he was right.

She made a concentrated effort to calm herself down and… mostly succeeded by the time Joker was laid on the bench with his head on her lap.

With all those gloriously messy and silky-soft-looking pitch black curls right there. Under her hands, literally under her hands—!

Just a little petting wouldn’t be ‘something weird’, would it? She’d be gentle! Just… one… little… touch…

She was breathing hard again, saliva pooling in her mouth as she thought about it.

…It would totally be weird.

Ughhhh…

She kept her hands to herself as she studied his face, all flawless alabaster skin and finely cut features, long eyelashes fluttering and a single dark eye glancing up at her before shutting again with a soft hmph.

Panther swallowed down the squeak in her throat. Her heart couldn’t take this much cute!

“Are you mad at me?” she asked. With great effort, her voice came out sounding almost normal.

Joker—oh gosh—Joker pouted. The corners of his mouth turned down, lower lip jutting as he stared at the far wall. “Why’d you hit me?” he wondered piteously.

Mmmgyangh—!

Panther gripped the edge of the bench so she wouldn’t completely lose it. How was she supposed to resist this?! “…I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

The childish sulk demanded her full and entire honesty or she would die. Compelled by forces being her comprehension, she confessed, “I didn’t mean to. I was just mad because you ate the last sweet bun and you didn’t offer me any. I didn’t know that the spell would get you too. I should have been more careful.”

The sulk melted into sheepishness, guileless guilt on his end too. “Oh.”

Her whole and entire being was tied up in that expression, and it was taking her for one wild ride. “What?”

“Sorry.”

Now, the usual Joker would have left it at that, or maybe reassured her that he’d check next time, but this one—this one—went on to explain.

“I was jus’ mad,” he slurred, looking adorably ashamed. “‘Cuz you were flirting w’ s’meone elsh.” He rolled over and buried his face in her stomach, clumsily wrapping his long, powerful arms around her waist. “Don’ do that. Only me.”

Panther felt like she’d stuck her head in her own Agidyne spell.

Around the room, their teammates were in varying degrees of shock and/or distress—from Oracle’s uncomplicated gape to Skull’s silent ‘holy shiiiit…’ to Queen’s borderline horror. Noir’s face was buried in her hands, her ears and neck bright red, while Fox seemed somewhere between surprised and fascinated and Mona’s already cartoonish visage had become a caricature of heartbreak.

The shattering of Joker’s eternal deadpan was the shot heard ‘round the world.

“O-okay,” Panther promised faintly. It would be easier to wrack her brain for what he was talking about if only said brain wasn’t completely taken over by that hazy pink of omigod cuuuuuute!

(She just wanted to touch his hair. He was being a horrible tease by just leaving it all there with that face in her lap.)

“Good,” Joker mumbled against her abdomen. His arms held her a little tighter. “You’re so pretty, ‘n’ so good, ‘n’ ev’ryone wants you. I don’ wanna share. Jus’… want you.”

“Oh,” said Panther, her voice cracking. Fire resistance or no, she must have just stepped into a firing kiln. She was dizzy with the force of her blush. “You’re… pretty amazing yourself.”

He looked up at her, gaze soft and open and awed, and then he smiled, and… was that…

Was that a…

A blush?

A bullet to the heart would have been kinder.

Then his eyes fluttered shut, smile and blush fading down to glowing content, and he nuzzled into her stomach and settled into his new ‘pillow’.

He was asleep before she could gather her wits or words.

Absolute silence.

It was a long time they all spent trying to absorb the interaction, and then Skull said, “Uhh… what the hell was he talkin’ about?”

Panther shrugged helplessly. She wasn’t in the habit of flirting with anyone to her knowledge—she’d remember it if she’d done it recently, right?

Another silence stretched out as they all contemplated this, and then Oracle spoke up.

“Was he… was he talking about that Awakened God Shadow back there?”

Now that she mentioned it, Panther had pouted up at the golem-type creature after Joker had accidentally offended it. She’d thought they would turn the tide, but then Joker had pissed it off so bad that no one could save the conversation and hit it with a barrage of nuclear spells before anyone else could get a word in edgewise.

…Seriously?

“But he didn’t mind when I helped out with Scathach!” she protested weakly.

Oracle frowned. “I mean, he absorbed her right after that. Maybe he just remembered you flirting with him instead.”

A pressurized whine of sheer mortification escaped Panther’s throat. The thought of intentionally flirting with Joker was already embarrassing enough!

“Yeah,” said Skull, about as obliviously unhelpful as he could get. “Besides, girl-on-girl is—”

“Hey-you-know-what-we-should-let-him-sleep,” Queen blurted out desperately, flushed around the edges of her mask, “so let’s just stop talking here, okay?!”

Noir had dragged her hat over her face, wrecking the brim with her white-knuckled grip and cringing so hard her head almost rested on the table. Mona had been lost to despondency. Fox was poking one of Joker’s shoes with the handle of his brush. Oracle had delicately placed her fingertips over her open mouth, almost tittering.

Panther was getting the profound feeling that she was at the epicenter of a spectacle that she’d only seen the iceberg-tip of.

She decided she didn’t want to know. What she already knew was humiliating enough.

However, no conversation meant nothing to distract her from the head of fluffy curls right in front of her.

About a minute and a half of that, and she gave into temptation.

—|—|—|—|—

Joker didn’t remember too much about how he’d ended up unconscious when he woke up—woke up to Panther practically in his arms while she finger combed his hair, no less—but obviously something had happened.

Mona was no longer acknowledging his existence. Oracle was the only one of the girls who would still look him in the eye, and when she did, she did it with a leer that was about as disgusting as Skull’s was. Fox was the only one acting even slightly normal, which wasn’t saying much, seeing as it was Fox.

He didn’t know if he wanted to know.

He probably didn’t.

Curiosity killed the cat and all.

(Fuck was he curious, though. What the hell had happened?)

Apparently he’d been out for about twenty five minutes, which left them with enough time to discover the next safe room and reconvene before they really had to get back to the real world.

It was right before they left Okumura’s Palace that Panther gestured him to fall to the back of the group of the group with her, and swung her arms shyly for a second before asking if he wanted to go see a movie with her next weekend.

She accepted his immediate (if confused) agreement with a blushing smile (he still didn’t know what the hell could have happened in those twenty minutes, but god she was cute), and then stepped up really, really close and pulled him down just enough to steal a kiss.

Hand clamped over his tingling mouth and blood pounding a racket in his ears as he watched her follow the others, he decided that he really needed to ask.

Later.

Maybe on that oh-shit-it’s-actually-a-date-isn’t-it he had next Saturday.

#shuann #akirann #renann #ann takamaki #takamaki ann #akira kurusu #kurusu akira #ren amamiya #amamiya ren #persona 5 #p5 #anon

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maj0rmayhem · 5 years

Text

Finally Able To Feel Safe

Fandom: Persona 5

Warnings: None

Ships: Platonic Phantom Thieves + Implied Pining Pegoryu

Partially dedicated to @fluffieart for encouraging this mess and also being generally amazing <3

Summary: Ann stood up abruptly, almost knocking the mug of coffee in front of her over as she shook the table, much to Akira’s displeasure, “Okay, no. We can have this argument later. Right now. I’m calling an emergency Phantom Thieves mission. Objective: Get Akira Some Sleep.” She declared.

Or: Akira's Personas won't shut up and he just wants a nap. Luckily his friends are here to help.

Fic under the cut! Also read here on AO3!

Akira’s day started with him having to hold an intervention.

Inside his own head.

“If I hear another word about which kind of noodle is better, I’m executing both of you the next chance I get. Got it? You.. you can’t even eat!”

It hadn’t always been this way. First, his mind was silent. Then, he had awakened Arsene, and they had been fine together.

After the discovery he could hold multiple masks… that’s when things started to go downhill. He didn’t think having eight different demons (basically) clamoring to have their voices heard would leave anyone in a good mood.

It also meant he hadn’t had a good night's sleep in months and it left him on edge and short-tempered.

The rest of the Phantom Thieves were starting to notice: shooting worried glances his way when they thought he couldn’t see them, not-so-subtle suggestions that he take a day to rest, it had gotten so bad that one day he discovered Ann had left a pillow in his desk at school, claiming she “didn’t want to see him hurt himself the next time he fell asleep in the middle of class” (which had only happened once, and nearly sent him in to cardiac arrest when he was startled awake, so he didn’t exactly plan on doing that again if he could avoid it. Though he appreciated the thought). But he didn’t want them to worry. In fact, it was the last thing he wanted. He was meant to be their leader, someone they could rely on, who was confident in their decisions, and the rock the team so desperately needed with everyone being thrust on them so suddenly. And... shit, he never stopped trying to live up to their expectations, but he could tell how miserably he was failing and he hated it.

He was startled out of his self-deprecating spiral by an arm being thrown over his shoulders, effectively throwing him back to the reality where he was currently with the three other Phantom Thieves at LeBlanc, talking about nothing and just enjoying each other’s company in the week of Madarame’s change of heart.

“Dude, no offense, but you look like shit,”

“Ryuji!” That was Ann’s voice. It took him a moment to place everyone’s names and voices, kind of like he was thinking through a fog.

“What? I’m just bein’ honest.” Ryuji didn’t sound truly defensive. More amused (and maybe a little concerned) than anything.

“To be fair, he does look significantly less put together than he has in past meetings.” Yusuke agreed, his words definitely layered with more obvious concern (in Yusuke’s own way).

The thought that they all felt like they could be themselves around each other, no masks, caused the shadow of a smile to flit across his expression.

“And yet you still try to keep a crumbling mask up around them”

“Arsene don’t even try and be fucking deep right now. Not even an hour ago you were trying to convince Akira to take revenge on a stranger,”

“To be fair, the passenger was unnecessarily aggressive,”

“Oh, I am so not getting into this with you too. This is even worse than your heathen ass hating pasta”

“Oh, now you’ve started it -”

And there went Akira’s moment of positivity. The smile disappeared and he reached one hand up to rub at his temples, leaning back against Ryuji’s arm that was still around his shoulder and hissing,

“I… you guys can’t even eat just shut the fuck up and let me have this please,”

The table fell into silence almost immediately, the sudden confusion and unease almost palpable. Akira didn’t seem to notice, eyes closed, frowning as he continued applying pressure to his temples like if he just pressed hard enough he could silence the voices in his head.

Finally, Ryuji broke the silence, obviously bewildered as he gawked at the obviously exhausted boy who seemed to be using his arm as a pillow, “Man, what the hell?”

Akira immediately stiffened at the words, sitting straight up and glancing around the table, “Oh… oh no, I didn’t -”

“Say that out loud? Yeah, totally.” Ann finished for him, watching him with a raised eyebrow as he groaned and slouched forward, burying his face in his hands.

Dragging his hands down his face before sighing and straightening, he decided that there was no point denying there was an issue, lest he makes it worse and causes them to think he was completely mentally unstable, “Ok, so you know how your Personas will sometimes talk to you in your head?” He began, only to stop at the unexpected befuddlement all around him.

“Wait, you can hear your Persona all the time? Not just when they’ve been summoned?” Morgana asked, sitting up from where they had been lounging across the table.

The question gave Akira pause, and he felt a cold dread coil at the pit of his stomach, and his voice was small and wary when he answered, “Yes? I thought that was normal. Doesn’t everyone?”

Ann shook her head, “The only time I can talk to Carmen is when I summon her in the Metaverse,”

“Yeah man. I think me ‘n Captain Kidd have exchanged, like… maybe three words since the first time he was summoned?” He rolled his eyes, face flushing slightly as he added, “He’s normally too busy talking to Arsene to speak to me much anyway,”

In any other situation, Akira would have been immediately sheepish at the reminder of the… rather close relationship between their Personas, which was not helped when he felt Arsene practically purr at the back of his mind, which was disturbing enough in and of itself.

Morgana thankfully continued speaking, oblivious to his inner turmoil, “No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone being able to speak to their Personas like you’re describing. And they’re always there?”

Akira offered a mute nod as an answer, twisting his lips at the reminder of his complete lack of privacy even within his own mind.

“You’d be lost without us.”

“Oh, I really wouldn’t. I’d get some sleep without you, that’s for sure.”

“Ouch, Wildcard! I thought we meant something to you”

“-kira? You with us?”

He blinked several times, forcing himself back into the current conversation and out of his head, only to be confronted with several pairs of worried expressions, and Ryuji’s face way too close to his own.

Which he reacted to very naturally, and definitely did not find his face flushing bright red as he barely suppressed a squeak, breathing a sigh of relief when the boy finally leaned back (although he did fail to notice there was still an arm loosely stretched over his shoulders).

“So, got stuck in a conversation or something?” Ryuji asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

At Akira’s small nod, Morgana physically perked up, walking over with shining eyes, “Really? What were they saying? What did they sound like?”

Pursing his lips, he answered the first question as vaguely as he could, not wanting to get into the many odd conversations he was forced to overhear, “They’re… arguing. And… I don’t know? They’re all different, and I guess it’s… it’s almost like a feeling, more than anything. But I know exactly what they’re saying.” With a sigh, he added under his breath, “Even when I wish I didn’t,”

If Morgana was disappointed in his terse answers, they didn’t show it, looking nothing short of fascinated as they sat back on their haunches with a small hum.

Glancing around the table, Akira noted that Ann looked a little perturbed at the revelation, Yusuke… well he could never tell what Yusuke was thinking, but he didn’t look particularly caught off-guard, and Ryuji looked concerned, like he had just put together a puzzle and didn’t like the image it fit together.

“So that’s why you’ve been so off your game recently, huh? I mean, you almost passed out right at the entrance to Mementos the other day, and scared the crap out of us thinkin’ you’d gotten hit by something.”

Akira flushed at the reminder, finding the table to suddenly be more interesting than the amused realization on his friends' faces, “Maybe... yes. It’s not that bad, okay” He protested weakly, before looking back up at the group.

“Akira… when was the last time you actually had enough sleep?” Morgana asked, voice caught somewhere between exasperated and concerned.

“Oh, uh… it started getting bad partway into Kamoshida’s palace, I think? That’s when I started collecting so many masks.”

The reaction was instantaneous and overwhelming (from everyone except Yusuke, who hadn’t been there for that long, and either way, never seemed to show much emotion if he could help it).

“Since Kamosh - Akira, it's been ages!”

“Dude, how are you even upright right now? Damn.”

“As the leader of the Phantom Thieves, you should take more caution in taking care of yourself!”

Their other protests ended up blending together in a cacophony of noise that did nothing to help his growing headache. Burying his face in his arms with a groan, he offered a muffled platitude, “Look, I get it. I know its not good and I probably should have brought it up earlier, but I didn’t want to worry anyone! Plus, I thought it was normal for them to talk to you, and this was just… a side effect of having so many.”

“Like anything about your connection to the Metaverse is normal,”

“Not helping!”

“I’m surprised I didn’t notice anything earlier. The amount of distress in your expression is an amazing source of inspiration,”

Akira lifted his head enough to glare at the artist, “Thanks, Yusuke. I’m glad my turmoil can provide something other than exhaustion.”

Ann stood up abruptly, almost knocking the mug of coffee in front of her over as she shook the table, much to Akira’s displeasure, “Okay, no. We can have this argument later. Right now. I’m calling an emergency Phantom Thieves mission. Objective: Get Akira Some Sleep.” She declared.

“Guys, really -”

“Oh man, now this is a mission I can get behind!”

“Seriously -”

“Let's help out our fearless leader!”

“Come on, Yusuke help me -”

Said teenager snapped his sketchbook shut, “Well, if we are all in agreement, then I guess the decision is made. Akira and his sleeping habits are our next target,”

“Its is not unan-!” Akira didn’t have time to finish his (admittedly weak) protest before he was dragged out of his seat when Ryuji stood up and grabbed his hand, Ann trapping him in on the other side.

Not that he could outrun them in his current state, but if there was one thing they had learned in their time as Phantom Thieves, it was better safe than sorry.

Ann and Ryuji each looped their arms through his, matching mischievous grins on their faces. If those two were teaming up, there was no way Akira was going to get himself free, so with a sigh, he slouched slightly and resigned himself to his fate as he was dragged up the stairs to the attic he called home.

~~~~~~

Akira was deposited gracelessly onto his bed with a small “oof” once they were upstairs, and left by himself as the other four huddled close together, coming up with a “game plan” to help the incessant chatter of Personas in his mind manageable enough for a real nap (as Ryuji so eloquently put it).

Watching them with their heads bent, whispering amongst themselves, he couldn’t help the fond smile that found itself on his lips, amusement and gratefulness twinkling in his gaze. Back home, he had thought he had had friends, but now he could see that those were one-sided at best, and downright toxic at worst. Now, he saw a support system he hadn’t known he could have, and… maybe it was okay to drop some of his masks around them. For a long time, Akira had been afraid to show any weakness, to break his composure in even the smallest of ways around them. He was supposed to be their leader, and… he still was. But more than that, he was their friend. And he would keep repeating that to himself to try and combat the guilt bubbling just under the surface at letting himself fall like this.

As lost in his thoughts and the dull drone of conversation between Personas as he was, he didn’t notice Ryuji approaching until it was too late, and there was an arm thrown back over his shoulders and a warm presence by his side, startling him so badly he would have fallen right off the bed if Ryuji hadn’t adjusted his grip to hold him in place with an amused snort.

Pointedly ignoring the way his face burned at the unexpected contact, he turned his head to glare at Ryuji, who just shook his head, still shaking slightly with laughter as he pulled Akira back so he was close against his side (Ryuji also ignored the way his face was probably a bright red, but they had all agreed this was part of the best way to make sure Akira actually slept. And now that he was actually looking, he felt immensely guilty he hadn’t noticed how exhausted his best friend had been before. His posture was slouched, and now that he was able to take a closer look, he could see the makeup under his eyes, now starting to be wiped off by their hands-on approach to dragging Akira up the stairs, covering heavy dark circles. One glance at the others and he could tell they felt just as guilty, but were trying to hide it as they knew it would only make Akira feel worse about the situation).

With Akira secured against his side, Ann switched off the lights, and Yusuke pulled out his phone, playing some obscure soft song that only he knew with a small smile. All of this accomplished, Morgana hopped onto the bed and curled up in Akira’s lap with a light purr, and Ann plopped herself down on Akira’s other side, leaning her head on his shoulder as Yusuke took the couch, sketchbook back out and the soft sound of pencil scratching on paper blending with the soft notes of the music in the background to create a pleasant, lilting euphony.

Quietly, Ann began speaking about nothing in particular, just letting the sound of her voice carry through the room. Occasionally, the others would interject with an equally quiet comment. Akira wasn’t sure when it had happened, but he only noticed he was curled against Ryuji’s chest rather than his shoulder when he chucked at something that was said, and Akira felt the vibrations of his laughter more than heard it. Ann was still leaning against his side, her legs stretched out across the bed, and Morgana was a solid weight on his lap. Surrounded by so much warmth from all sides - Ryuji on one side, Ann on the other, Morgana, and even Yusuke’s presence, only known through the sounds of his pencil - Akira felt the tension gradually drain out of his body until he was practically boneless against Ryuji, who simply shifted slightly and tightened his grip around Akira’s back to accommodate the extra weight with no complaint except a small snort.

Almost without him even realizing it, Akira’s eyes began to flutter closed, focusing on the steady rise and fall of Ryuji’s chest and the heartbeat under his ear, as well as the soft conversation of the others to help drown out the voices. Barely conscious, a small smile graced his features.

It had been a long time since Akira had felt this relaxed around other people - not even his family. It had been even longer since anyone could make him feel safe enough that he could drop his guard and fall asleep surrounded by their warm ambiance.

In short, Akira had never felt more loved, nor more love for others, than he did in that last moment before he blissfully drifted into a dreamless sleep, surrounded by the family he couldn’t have hoped for when he was sent to Japan, but one he wouldn’t trade for the world.

As his breathing evened out, the other four fell quiet and exchanged smiles full of relief and affection above him, glad to see him finally at ease in the way he deserved after all they had been through.

(And if/when Akira woke up hours later, more well-rested than he could remember being in a long time, there was a sketch left lying on his desk of him, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana all curled up on top of each other with small smiles, happily asleep. Well… no one commented on how it was hanging on the wall the next time they were all there.)

#persona 5 #persona 5 protagonist #akira kurusu #ren amamiya #ryuji sakamoto #pegoryu #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #morgana #writing #my writing

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